


Migraines and Sore Throats

by KarkatVantabulous



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Black Romance, Black-Red Vacillation, Blind Sollux Captor, Chat Logs, Dead Aradia, Eventual Sollux Captor/Karkat Vantas, F/M, Karkat Needs a Hug, LOPAH, Land of Pulse and Haze, M/M, Mentions of Eridan Ampora/Feferi Peixes moirallegiance, Minor Sollux Captor/Aradia Megido, Minor Sollux Captor/Feferi Peixes, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Pale-Black Vacillation, Pale-Red Vacillation, Quadrant Confusion, Quadrant Vacillation, Red Romance, Sad Karkat, Sober Gamzee Makara, Trollian, half blind sollux captor, hints of eridan ampora/karkat vantas, lots of pesterlogs, pesterlogs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-08 14:26:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5500661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarkatVantabulous/pseuds/KarkatVantabulous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two dysfunctional trolls happened to meet each other online. Their friendship evolves to something just a bit more than friendship, but what exactly is it? And how did this friendship come to be?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> okay so before you read just know that Karkat's typing quirk is different here because it's before he had this thing that triggered him to be so angry all the time therefore causing him to type in caps and be a hell of a lot more aggressive. it's a complicated headcanon i have and if you have any questions feel free to ask me.
> 
> happy reading!

_"I've got a migraine and my pain will range from up, down, and side ways."_ [X](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEfbUEYWOY8)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sollux Captor sighed and pushed his glasses up, rubbing his eyes. He had just spent the past two days sitting in his office chair, without getting up, and finishing up yet another one of his projects. A chatting site to be exact. He used to use a different site to communicate with his friends but that site was much too slow for his liking. He was just a click of a button away to finishing...

A ding from his husktop informed him that he had recieved a new message from a friend from that horrendous chatting application. He sighed in frustration and switched tabs.

♑  BEGAN CHATTING WITH ♊ 

♑: heeeey man. motherfuck's up? ya all up an got that new more wicked site up an runnin' yet or nah? ♊ : ii wa2 about two get iit up and runniing untiil 2OMEONE deciided two me22age me.  
♑ : aw shit man sorry to motherfucking interrupt. just excited as shit to get my wicked chat on with them new motherfuckers out there. bet your site'll be a gazillion times better than this one. ♊ : of cour2e iit'll be. now ju2t leave me the fuck alone 2o ii could get thii2 2hiit done already.  
♑:  haha you got it bro. :o) talk to a motherfucker later.

♑  STOPPED CHATTING WITH ♊ 

Sollux rolled his eyes and switched back to his previous tab. Honestly, this old site was complete shit compared to Sollux's new one. This one used the signs of trolls as user names, what were they supposed to call each other with that? Hello 'N' with a squiggly line attatched. No, that was bullshit, and Sollux wasn't one to bullshit.

The Gemini troll triumphantly clicked the enter button on his keyboard and thus, Trollian was created. 

The site became very popular very fast. Trolls of all areas of Alternia were using this new chatting site, putting the previous one out of business. Sollux took great pride in the creation of Trollian, it was his biggest work yet, and most popular. His previous projects being codes he couldn't really do much with those, or show those off. He could send one to any given troll that got on his nerves and give their husktop a virus but that was pretty much it.

Two months since trollian was created and Sollux had a total of ten friends on his friendlist, their trolltags all written in their blood colours creating a rainbow. Sollux sighed, his yellow coloured trolltag was the only one bright enough to show he was online. He was bored out of his mind and no one was online to drag him out of his lull. 

_Ding._

Sollux's head shot up so fast his bi-coloured glasses nearly flew off his face. Gamzee had messaged him.

terminallyCapricious[TC] began trolling twinArmageddons[TA]

TC: HeY ThErE My yElLoW BlOoDeD Bro :o)  
TA: hey TC. 2tiill u2iing that a2iiniine typiing 2tyle ii 2ee.  
TC: HaHa yOu kNoW It.  
TC: LiStEn bRoThEr, cAn yA Do a MoThErFuCkEr a FavOr?  
TA: depend2  
TC: Ya sEe i GoT Me a BeSt fRiEnD WhO's a BiT LoNeSoMe, yA MiNd cHatTiNg hIm uP A bIt?  
TA: 2eriiou2ly?  
TA: you want ME of all troll2 two try two be friiend2 wiith a troll ii don't even know.  
TA: TC ii don't know iif you remember but ii'm not exactly the mo2t 2ociiable troll on alterniia.  
TA: get CC or GA two do it. hell why not get AT or CT two do iit?  
TC: NaHhH  
TC: JuSt tRuSt a MoThErFuCkEr oN ThIs. yOu aNd mY MiRaClE BlOoDeD BrOtHeR WiLl gEt aLoNg mIrAcuLoUsLy :o)  
TA: jegu2 diick  
TA: fiine.  
TA: what'2 hii2 trollhandle?  
TC: carcinoGeneticist:o)  
TA: why'2 the fuckiing name iin grey?  
TA: what'2 hii2 blood color?  
TC: FuCk iF I kNoW MaN  
TA: you don't know the dude'2 blood color.  
TC: NoPe  
TA: jegu2 DIICK  
TA: you know you can be a real iidiiot 2ometiime2?  
TA: ii mean, what kind of a troll hiide2 theiir blood color? thii2 could be a p2ycho troll lookiing for hii2 next viictiim.  
TC: NaHhH, He'S ToO DaMn pReCiOuS To bE No pSyChO.  
TA: whatever

twinArmageddons[TA] ceased pestering terminallyCapricious[TC]

The Gemini troll sighed in exasperation, Gamzee was great and all but sometimes he was just too dense headed. While typing in the previously given troll tag, Sollux attempted to come up with something, anything, to say to this new troll. The user name appeared on the screen and Sollux clicked on it.

Shit. 

He still had no idea what he was going to tell this new guy, he probably should've asked Gamzee for some information on this troll. Sollux silently cursed himself but began typing anyway, praying to every horrorterror out there that he wouldn't fuck this up. 

twinArmageddons[TA] began trolling carcinoGeneticist[CG]

TA: 2up  
TA: my friiend kiind of referred me two you and 2hiit.  
TA: pretty 2ure you know him  
TA: purple blood, type2 liike a fuckiing dumba22?  
CG: yeah, Gamzee.  
TA: what?  
CG: Gamzee, that's his name. Didn't you know that?  
TA: no, he never really got around two telliing me hi2 name.  
CG: not surprising, things tend to get away from him nowadays ever since he became an idiot and began ingesting sopor slime.  
TA: ju2t when ii thought he couldn't get 2tupiider.  
CG: He isn't that stupid, he's just making some really stupid decisions due to life at his hive.  
TA: alriight alriight  
TA: ii'm not goiing two get iintwo an arguement over TC'2 iintelliigence  
TA: e2peciially not when he 2peciifiically 2ent me two become your friiend or 2ome 2hiit.  
CG: He did that?  
TA: hii2 iin2tructiion2 were very vague  
CG: amazing, now my best friend is off finding friends for me  
CG: crabdad is going to flip his shit  
CG: speaking of crabdad and shit, he just came back with a lot of it.  
CG: i'll be right back I guess 

Perfect. Now Sollux could quickly message Gamzee and get some information on this grey-texted troll that he should've gotten beforehand. 

twinArmageddons[TA] began trolling terminallyCapricious[TC]

TA: TC  
TA: jegu2 diick  
TA: are you out on that fuckiing beach again  
TA: the 2ea dweller2 are gonna waltz riight up one of the2e day2 and fuckiing cull you  
TA: fuckiing hell TC  
TA: GAMZEE  
TC: HaHa  
TC: HeY BrO  
TC: SoRrY, GoT MySeLf a BiT DiStRaCtEd lOoKiNg aT ThEsE WiCkEd wAvEs  
TA: that'2 all you're goiing two say  
TA: nothiing about me knowiing your name  
TC: NaH MaN.  
TC: KaRbRo aLl uP An tOlD Me tHaT He lEt mY NaMe sLiP Up.  
TC: It'S AlL GoOd tHoUgH :o)  
TA: karbro  
TA: can ii have hii2 name wiithout the niickname part ma2hed iin wiith iit?  
TC: HoLd uP  
TC: My bRo iS A pReTtY SeCrEtIvE TroLl. i DoN't tHiNk hE'lL ApPrEcIaTe iT If i Go aRoUnD AnD GiVe oUt tHaT ShIt.  
TC: It'S BeSt iF YoU AsK HiM InStEaD.  
TA: 2iigh  
TA: fiine.  
TA: could you at lea2t tell me 2ome 2hiit about hiim  
TA: ii don't want two be an awkward priick the entiire tiime.  
TC: AiGhT  
TC: FoR OnE He'S PrEtTy sHy  
TC: AlWaYs sEeMs pArAnOiD. LiKe sOmEoNe'S GoNnA CuLl hIm aT AnY sEcOnD  
TC: He rEaLlY LiKeS ThEm rOmAnTiC CoMeDy tYpE MoViEs aNd bOoKs  
TC: He'S KiNd oF InTo cOdInG  
TA: that'2 all ii need  
TA: thank2 man  
TC: No pRoBlEm mAn :o)

twinArmageddons[TA] ceased trolling terminallyCapricious[TC]

Sollux leaned back in his chair and sighed loudly. At least now he had something to talk about with this guy. The gold-blooded troll stood up and stretched, joints popping as he did. He wanted a soda but he also wanted to sit there by his computer. Sollux rubbed his eyes and pushed his glasses up on his forehead, his red and blue psionics crackling loudly. He concentrated, his gaze completely on the purple thermal hull unit in his nutritionblock. The handle glowed with blue and red before the door opened up. 

The next moment a can of the most popular Alternian soda was floating over to him with a cloud of red and blue electricity around it. He opened it up and took a sip before sitting back down and continuing his previous conversation with this grey-texted troll. 

CG: finally got the literal shit out of the fucking carpet.  
TA: your lu2u2 2ound2 amaziing  
TA: all miine doe2 ii2 2tay chaiined up on the roof of my communal hiive 2y2tem and 2cream.  
TA: endle22 2creamiing  
TA: my up2taiir2 neiighbor2 complaiined about hiim but iit'2 not liike ii can do 2hiit  
TA: he 2cream2 iif he want2 two.  
CG: pffft, holy shit. you think your screeching lusus is bad?  
CG: crabdad screeches like there's no fucking tomorrow  
CG: it's gotten to the point where i start to screech back  
CG: it's like some fucked up language  
TA: ii'd love two 2peak a language that'2 pure 2creeche2  
CG: no you really don't  
CG: i lost my voice so many damn times it isn't even funny.  
TA: ii could iimagiine 2o  
TA: TC tell2 me you're iintwo codiing?  
CG: yeah kind of  
CG: I don't exactly have time to code  
CG: my lusus doesn't exactly allow me this shit either  
CG: he flipped his shit when he found out that i started talking to strangers online  
CG even more so when found out that Gamzee is my friend  
TA: why exactly?  
CG: long uniteresting story  
TA: alriight. moviing on. what kiind of code2 do you do?  
CG: just the beginners ~ATH ones.  
CG: i never have enough time to get past them.  
TA: 2uck2 for you.  
TA: maybe one of the2e day2 you 2hould 2end me one of your code2 and ii'll 2end you one of miine.  
CG: what kind of codes do you do?  
TA: advanced ~ATH  
CG: you're just trying to show off aren't you  
TA: eheheh damn. you know me, what? a few miinute2 and you already fiigured me out.  
CG: it's a special trait of mine  
TA: amaziing. ii wii2h ii had a traiit two fiigure out the ab2olute wor2t iin people.  
CG: it's the best thing in the world really  
TA: can't waiit two 2ee how you u2e thii2 agaiin2t me  
TA: 2hiit  
TA: ii gotta go feed bicyclops dad  
TA: ii'll talk two you tomorrow  
TA: uh  
TA: fuck man what'2 your name?  
CG: uh  
CG: just  
CG: call me  
CG: CG i guess  
CG: even though that's retarded as shit  
TA: nah, iit'2 okay.  
TA: 2ee you later CG  
CG: yeah, bye TA.

twinArmageddons[TA] ceased trolling carcinoGeneticist[CG]

Sollux logged off of Trollian and shut off his husktop. This new guy wasn't too bad. 

He wasn't too bad at all. 


	2. Chapter 2

_"Am I the only one I know? Waging my wars behind my face and above my throat? Shadows will scream that I'm alone..."_ [X ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEfbUEYWOY8)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

twinArmageddons[TA] began trolling carcinoGeneticist[CG]

TA: hey  
TA: you awake yet?  
CG: it's the middle of the night of course i'm awake  
TA: well iidk man  
TA: ii'm u2ually a2leep riight now  
TA: that ii2 when ii get the chance two sleep  
TA: ii u2ually spend all my tiime codiing or doiing 2ome other poiintle22 2hiit  
TA: 2ame thiing wiith my eatiing habits  
CG: you know that isn't healthy right?  
TA: yeah ii know. AA ha2 triied two break those fucked up habiit2 but nothiing really work2.  
CG: AA?  
TA: 2he'2 a friiend of miine. 2he'2 pretty cool, a maroon blood.  
TA: 2he'2 telekiinetiic and can be pretty fuckiing creepy.  
CG: interesting.  
TA: yep.  
TA: her telekiinetiic abiiliitiie2 are a fuck load more advanced that miine.  
TA: 2he can do 2hiit ii can't even dream of  
TA: ii'd be on her level iif only ii actually practiiced u2iing thiis a2iiniine fuckiing power.  
TA: they giive me fuckiing miigraiine2 hone2tly, ii don't 2ee how adult troll2 can handle u2iing them 2o often.  
CG: Everything's difficult when you first try it, once you start practicing it'll be easier to use.  
TA: GZ never told me you were a motiivatiional 2peaker  
CG: of ha fucking ha.  
CG: i was trying to be helpful and shit.  
TA: for a 2econd there you 2ounded like you were tryiing two pale fliirt wiith me.  
CG: fuck no  
CG: no offense but no. I just met you.  
TA: uh-huh. ii2 iit that you ju2t met me or ii2 it that you and GZ are already moiiraiil2  
CG: GAMZEE AND I AREN'T MOIRAILS  
CG: Not that I wouldn't like to be moirails with him  
CG: Sigh  
CG: It's a huge cluster fuck of a mess really.   
TA: I get it.  
TA: moviing on from that weird topic, ii'd liike two giive you the trollhandle2 of my friiend2.  
TA: miight a2 well expand your friiend ciircle whiile ii become your new be2t bro.  
CG: oh uh  
CG: thanks but no thanks.  
CG: well maybe  
CG: tell me about them first  
TA: well ii already told you about AA. AT ii2 a ru2t blood with telekiinetiic abiiliitiie2 a2 well. AC ii2 an oliive blood who fuckiing love2 meowbea2t2 and RPiing and 2hiip2. 2he'2 an adorable liittle fuck but 2he liiterally kiil2 aniimal2 every fuckiing day 2o ii wouldn't pii22 her off. GA ii2 a jade blood who love2 makiing clothe2 but 2he'2 al2o very dangerou2.  
TA: GC ii2 a teal blood 2he'2 iintwo ju2tiice and all that 2hiit and 2he love2 FLARPiing. AG ii2 a huge biitch. that'2 all you need two know about her. CT iis a blueblood and ii2 shame globe2 deep iin hii2 love for the iidiiotiic and confu2iing blood color hiierarchy. He al2o happen2 two be AC'2 moiiraiil and he love2 hoofbea2t2 a2 much a2 2he love2 meowbea2t2.  
TA: you already know GZ. CA ii2 a pompou2 a22hole of a 2eadweller. ii 2poke two hiim once and iit wa2 enough two make me wanna walk out2ide and let the drone2 get me. fiinally there'2 CC. 2he'2 al2o a 2eadweller and next iin liine for the throne. an empre22 two be. 2he'2 really fuckiing niice though, want2 two change thii2 entire fucked up 2y2tem. and 2he liike2 two type in fii2h pun2 sometiime2.  
TA: that'2 about iit.  
CG: holy fuck  
CG: you have a lot of friends  
CG: and they all sound equally fucked up.  
TA: eheheh yep. we're ju2t one group of fucked up troll2.  
TA: 2o would you do them the honor and befriiend them only two fiind the ab2olute wor2t about them?  
CG: i'd have to run this over crabdad first  
CG: and Gamzee.  
CG: just safety percautions.  
TA: not goiing two que2tiion your paranoiia  
CG: good  
CG: fuck  
CG: i gotta go do a thing  
CG: i'll probably be back in like  
CG: in hour or two  
TA: 2hould ii be worriied  
CG: yes extremely worried.  
CG: i'm off to find the absolute worse in people, maybe what's so bad about them will be enough to kill me.  
CG: be very worried.  
TA: ha fuckiing ha  
TA: go do whatever iit ii2 that requiire2 your iimediiate attentiion.

carcinoGeneticist[CG] ceased trolling twinArmageddons[TA]

Sollux pushed his chair away from the desk and looked up at the ceiling. This whole "becoming friends with a stranger online" thing wasn't going too bad. Maybe it was because this troll was so calm and centered. He seemed to be able to handle Sollux, at the moment that is. 

The psionic troll spent a nice long couple of minutes staring at his thermal hull unit, He was really hungry and he had some left over grub loaf. He sighed and stared intently at the handle of the fridge, electricity crackling besides his eyes. The handle glowed before swinging open and the plate of grub loaf shakily floated over. This was certainly heavier than any soda can he ever carried telekinetically. The plate wobbled violently and Sollux was afraid he'd drop it. Thankfully the plate made it to Sollux's desk.

Shit.

He forgot to heat it up. Sollux lisped out a couple curse words and angrily picked up his platter before getting an idea. Maybe his psionics could be used as a heating unit as well? Hell, it was worth a shot. So Sollux sat down and his psionics crackled loudly and created a cloud of electricity around the plate of food. Five minutes later he ceased using his powers and poked at this food.

Still stone cold.

Angrily shoving cold grub loaf into his mouth, Sollux was also rapidly typing. He wasn't doing anything really, just brushing up on some coding. He had the beginners ~ATH manual wide open but he barely paid any attention to it. These layouts were so simple it was an insult to Sollux to even look at it. Then again to someone like his new grey text friend it might be difficult. Especially since he seemed so busy all the time and with his over protective lusus on his hands. He'd have to remember to send a couple of these simple codes to CG to gloat about his superior computer skills.

A few minutes went by and Sollux had done nearly the entire book's layout of codes. He was bored yet again. He switched back to Trollian, hoping to see one of his friends online and thankfully a certain jade blood was on.

twinArmageddons[TA] began trolling grimAuxiliatrix[GA]

TA: hey   
TA: are you doiing anythiing iintere2tiing  
TA: anythiing at all  
GA: I Have Just Finished Conversing With Vriska And Was About To Log Off  
GA: If That Counts As Interesting  
TA: iit doe2n't.  
GA: I Thought So  
GA: Now What Is It You Need From Me?  
TA: why do you a22ume ii need 2omethiing from you?  
GA: Because Everytime We Speak You Need Something From Me.  
TA: wow fuck you  
TA: ii don't alway2 need 2omethiing from you  
TA: maybe ii ju2t want two talk two a friiend of miine  
TA: maybe ii genuiinly wanted two 2peak two you but becau2e of that 2tatement ii changed my miind  
GA: If That Is The Case Then I Am Sorry  
TA: apology accepted   
TA: but not really requiired becau2e ii do kiind of need 2omethiing from you  
GA: Then I Take Back My Previous Apology  
GA: What Is It You Need?  
TA: you 2ee ii have thii2 friiend riight  
GA: Okay  
TA: he ii2n't the mo2t   
TA: tru2tiing   
TA: or 2ociiable troll out there  
TA: ii'm pretty 2ure hii2 only friiend2 are me and TC  
TA: ii a2ked hiim earliier iif he'd liike to meet my friiend2 and he 2aiid he'd have two a2k hii2 lu2u2 fiir2t and a2k TC about iit two.  
GA: What Exactly Is My Role In All Of This?  
TA: ii wa2 gettiing two that  
TA: iif he deciide2 two talk two my friiend2 ii wa2 thiinkiing about giiviing hiim your trollhandle fiir2t.  
TA: you're ea2y two get along wiith   
TA: maybe iit'll help the dude come out of hii2 2hell.  
GA: Alright.  
GA: But Might I Ask When You Became So Involved In The Lives Of Others?  
GA: I Always Assumed You Didnt Care If One Got Along With One Another.  
TA: fuck you  
TA: ii can be iinvolved with other people2 liive2 iif ii wanted two.  
GA: You Seem Awful Irritated.  
TA: ii know  
TA: my fuckiing miigraiine2 are comiing back  
TA: je2u2 fuck they 2uck a22  
GA: I Suggest You Use The Medication I Have Sent You.  
GA: Adult Psionics Have Used It For Their Migraines.  
TA: ii wiill eventually  
TA: ii ju2t have two feed iit two 2omeone el2e fiir2t and make 2ure iit ii2n't goiing two kill me.  
GA: My Lusus Is A Mother Grub And My Kind Only Work To Help And Care For Our Race  
GA: I Have No Intention To Hurt You.  
GA: But I Understand, Our Race Is Prone To Needless Violence.  
TA: yeah  
TA: well CG just got back onliine 2o ii'm goiing two talk two hiim now  
TA: you go back two talkiing two biitche2 and hangiing out iin the 2un or whatever the fuck iit ii2 you do.  
GA: I Will.

twinArmageddons[TA] ceased trolling grimAuxiliatrix[GA]

carcinoGeneticist[CG] began trolling twinArmageddons[TA]

CG: guess who's back  
TA: holy fuck fiinally  
TA: you were gone for liike eiighty periigee2  
CG: calm the fuck down  
CG: it was like an hour and a half  
TA: what the hell were you doiing anyway  
CG: something that isn't of importance to you  
TA: alriight well fuck you two  
CG: we're a bit young for that.  
TA: ha ha ha  
TA: you're 2o fuckiing funny  
TA: hone2tly ii'm crackiing up here ju2t readiing that  
TA: that joke wa2 2o fuckiing hiilariiou2 ii have to 2end iit two the empre22  
CG: well someone seems extra sarcastic and irritated   
TA: iit'2 nothiing  
TA: ii ju2t have the biigge2t miigraiine iin all of alterniia  
TA: nothiing my mutated brain can't handle.  
CG: mutated?  
TA: yeah   
TA: iit's probably nothiing really  
TA: my thiinkpan ii2 2o fucked up wiith my p2iioniic2 that ii get horriible miigraiine2 and 2ometiime2 ii thiink ii hear voiice2  
TA: liike they're tryiing two warn me about 2ome horriible thiing that'll happen iin the future.  
TA: there'2 that and the fact that ii have four horn2  
TA: though ii don't thiink that count2 a2 a mutatiion  
TA: but really who giive2 a fuck  
TA: ii mean iif beiing a "mutant" mean2 haviing iimmen2e knowledge and p2iioniic2 and all that 2hiit  
TA: iit ii2n't 2o bad  
TA: and ii don't 2ee why the empre22 make2 iit 2uch a biig deal  
TA: iit'2 fuckiing 2tupid.  
CG: yeah  
CG: it is  
CG: it's karkat.  
TA: what?  
CG: my name.  
CG: it's karkat.  
TA: miine'2 2ollux.  
CG: well sollux  
CG: i have to go  
CG: crabdad is screeching again and i have to go see what's wrong  
TA: before you go here'2 the trolltag to a friiend of miine  
TA: grimAuxiliatrix  
TA: 2he'2 the jade blood obviiou2ly  
TA: but 2he'2 pretty cool  
TA: 2he get2 along wiith pretty much everyone  
TA: you'll liike her  
CG: thanks  
CG: talk to you later  
TA: yeah  
TA: later dude.

carcinoGeneticist[CG] ceased pestering twinArmageddons[TA]


	3. Chapter 3

_"I am not as fine as I seem.  
Pardon." _ [ X ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEfbUEYWOY8)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two trolls talked to each other for hours on end for a full perigee. They spent their time aimlessly chatting about random topics. If one topic seemed too boring they would immediately switch gears and talk about another. It was so easy talking to one another, it was like they fit together like two puzzle pieces. Karkat was calm and collected enough to be able to handle Sollux's constand sarcasm and snarkiness and even be able to return some of his snark.

The two had nearly nothing in common which made their odd and newly forming friendship exciting. Sollux, as much as he would try to deny it, loved picking Karkat's thinkpan and learning every little detail about this strange troll. At first it was simple little questions like _what's your favourite colour?_ Or _What's your favourite book?_ Those questions quickly morphed to ones like _If you had to choose between dying for a quadrant mate or dying by the hands of a quadrant mate, what would you choose?_

Yes their friendship was going spectacularly. Sollux felt a strong connection with Karkat. That is, until Karkat attempted to cut off that connection.

Another perigee of their friendship went by and Karkat's replies were getting less and less enthusiastic and started sounding more and more forced. Sollux could tell something was wrong with the troll who did so much to hide his blood colour, but Sollux wasn't Karkat's moirail. He couldn't do anything.

Sollux spent the next couple of nights _attempting_ to try to trick Karkat into telling him what was wrong, but no such avail. Karkat's replies were getting shorter and more forced sounding and Karkat knew. When interrogated by the Gemini about this the cancer troll merely said _"are they really?"_ Before attempting to switch the topic of discussion. Eventually Karkat just stopped replying to Sollux, causing a tsunami of emotions to wash over the young troll.

Was Karkat mad at him? Did he get culled? Did he move away? The latter was very unlikely, but it still worried him. Maybe Karkat's lusus was the cause of the troll's sudden disappearance. Whatever the case was, Sollux was extremely worried, he asked whoever Gamzee and the rest of Karkat's newfound friends but none of them had talked to the cancer troll as of late. Sollux was losing hope.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sollux slowly lifted himself out of his recoupercoon and, using his psionics, shakily floated to the ablutionblock. It had been a long night of repeatedly waking up and the struggle of attempting to fall back asleep. He had begun trying to adjust to normal sleeping habits but there was no guarantee he'd be able to get used to them anytime soon.

The Gemini troll washed himself off of the red sopor slime that still clung onto his body. He was worried sick about his friend but Aradia had instructed him that perhaps it was best that he distract himself for the time being. She was a wonderful troll, always helping him out. Sometimes she acted like Sollux's moirail and it made him wonder...

He quickly finished cleaning himself off and dried himself before throwing on some clothes and quickly making his way to his husktop. His dual-coloured eyes scanned his friend list seeing that none of his friends were online at the moment. Sollux groaned loudly in a mix of frustration and irritation. Fuck it, Karkat would eventually have to come online and when he did, he'd have to come back to a slightly upset Gemini.

twinArmageddons[TA] began trolling carcinoGeneticist[CG]  
TA: alriight lii2ten karkat  
TA: ii dont know what the fuck ii2 goiing on wiith you but come ON  
TA: ii thought we were becomiing good friiend2!  
TA: then you ju2t deciide two 2top me22aging me.   
TA: iif 2omethiing2 up iid appreciiate iit iif you told me.   
TA: iim a fuckiing 2uper geniiu2 ii could help you out.   
TA: and iif iit ii2nt that and iit2 ju2t that you hate me now iitd be great two know that two.  
TA: dont leave one of your good fuckiing friiend2 alone and let them 2tew in the juiice2 of theiir own 2elf loathiing and makiing then wonder why a good friiend of theiir2 2uddenly 2topped talkiing two them.  
TA: iit2 rude a2 2hiit.

twinArmageddons[TA] ceased trolling carcinoGeneticist[CG]

Sollux finished angrily typing and shut off his husktop. He sat there for a couple moments, still upset but that negative feeling soon began fading away and now he was left a mess of regret. He shouldn't of sent that to Karkat. What if Karkat was just going through something bad? Maybe his lusus died or maybe he was drafted early? Perhaps it had something to do with his blood colour and why he hid it?

Thoughts kept popping up in Sollux's mind only made him regret sending those messages even more. He quickly reopened his husktop and logged back into Trollian. Maybe he could quickly update the site's settings so you could delete messages off both parties' screens? Yes, that was a good idea. Way to go Sollux, fixing your own mistakes.

The troll's fingers were quickly clacking away at the keyboard, trying to go as fast as possible. If he kept up at this speed with no breaks whatsoever he could hopefully finish this within an hour or two. A loud growl shakes the windows of the building and Sollux groans.

Not now. Fuck not now. Maybe he could ignore it? Bicyclops dad could wait just an hour more right? Right. Sollux took a deep breath and continued his work. A good five minutes later and the rumbling continued to shake the building, angry residents lining up at Sollux's door and knocking at the door, demanding that he feed his lusus. He had no other choice.

The Gemini troll didn't bother getting up, he used his developing psionics to fill up two bottle like containers with the mind honey his bees produced. When he was done with that he opened up the window then he signed off. He didn't get to finish updating the site. Sollux would just have to live with the guilt of bursting out like that to Karkat. The yellow blooded troll sighed and walked over to the window, stealing a glance at his husktop before floating out to the roof of his communal give stem and go through the hassle of feeding his lusus.

Three hours and one migraine later, Sollux climbed back into his respiteblock. Feeding his lusus was never easy, in fact it seemed to get even more difficult each time. But it was something that had to be done. The Gemini troll's thinkpan ached with its growing migraine, he had used his psionics a lot today. Sollux groaned when he realised that the medication Kanaya had to graciously given him was in his ablutionblock. Right now he just wanted to lay down on the messy floor of his block and die but his migraine was really doing a number on him. So the four horned troll pulled himself up, the action causing his head to hurt even more, and slowly made his way to his ablutionblock. He searched for the pills, a string of angry curse words leaving his mouth until he _finally_ found them. He popped two into his mouth, the migraine almost instantly melting away. Maybe Kanaya _wasn't_ trying to kill him.

Walking back to his respiteblock, Sollux remembered Karkat and his previous upset string of messages. Crap. He quickly scrambled to his office chair and turned on his husktop. The second it turned on, a ding sounded off and Sollux cursed himself silently. Clicking onto Trollian, he prayed that the ding didn't mean Karkat had messaged him.

Sadly, Sollux's prayers weren't answered.

The psionic troll hesitantly looked over at his friend list, seeing that no one, not even Karkat, was online. This probably wasn't good. He slowly clicked on his friends username, and prepared for the string of angry messages he probably deserved.

carcinoGeneticist[CG] began trolling twinArmageddons[TA]

CG: JESUS FUCK.  
CG: I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW FUCKING STUPID I AM.  
CG: NOT JUST ME, EVERYTHING REALLY.   
CG: LIKE HONESTLY. WHY THE FUCK IS EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD SO FUCKING STUPID?  
CG: I MEAN, LET'S TAKE ME FOR AN EXAMPLE.   
CG: A POOR AS HELL TROLL WHO'S FIRST FRIEND IS A SOPOR ADDICTED JUGGALO WITH AN IDIOTIC RELIGION. BETTER YET, SAID SOPOR ADDICTED JUGGALO HAD TO BE THE ONE FIND ME FRIENDS.   
CG: AND MY SO CALLED "FRIENDS" ONLY COMPLETE THIS INSANE CIRCLE OF STUPIDITY.  
CG: WE HAVE A BITCH WHO MURDERS AND CONTROLS PEOPLE SHE FLARPS WITH. A RETARD IN A CAVE WHO DOES NOTHING BUT CAT PUNS. A CREEPY SHIT WHO LOVES ADVENTURING AND JUST GIVES OFF THE "I'M A SERIAL KILLER" VIBE.   
CG: A GENOCIDAL FISH WITH A GOD GUN. A SWEATY ASSHOLE THAT'S OBSESSED WITH HOOFBEASTS AND THAT ASININE BLOOD CASTE SYSTEM. AN IDIOT WHO BELIEVES IN FAIRY TALE STORIES AND FOLLOWS THE ORDERS OF OUR PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED BITCHY PSYCHO.   
CG: A WEIRDO WHO'S BEST FRIENDS WITH THE BITCHY PSYCHO AND HANGS DOLLS IN THE FUCKING FOREST. A FASHION OBSESSED JADE BLOOD WHO SOMETIMES CAN'T TURN OFF HER LUSUS LIKE SKILLS AND LIKES TO MEDDLE IN BUSINESS THAT ISN'T HERS. AN HEIRESS WITH NEXT TO NO THINKPAN IN HER HEAD.   
CG: AND FINALLY A TROLL WHO CLAIMS HE CAN HEAR VOICES AND PRACTICALLY NEVER LEAVES HIS FUCKING CHAIR BECAUSE HE'S TOO BUSY CODING OR DOING OTHER TIME CONSUMING AND POINTLESS ACTIVITIES.  
CG: THIS IS ALL SO   
CG: STUPID.   
CG: I CANNOT BEGIN TO FATHOM HOE STUPID THIS IS.   
CG: HOW STUPID *I AM*.  
CG: HOW STUPID I'VE *BEEN*   
CG: I'VE BEEN CONVINCING MYSELF PERIGEE AFTER PERIGEE THAT THINGS FOR ME WOULF GET BETTER. THAT I'D BE ABLE TO LIVE A NICE NORMAL LIFE. THAT I'D BE ABLE TO HAVE FRIENDS I COULD FREELY CONVERSE WITH AND I'D JUST BE FINE.   
CG: OBVIOUSLY THE UNIVERSE THOUGHT OTHERWISE BECAUSE IT JUST LOVES SERVING ME A NICE BIG HELPING OF "I HATE YOU" SUNDAE WITH A NICE "FUCK YOU" CHERRY ON TOP.  
CG: I AM CLEARLY NOT MEANT TO LIVE THE LIFE I FORCED MYSELF FO BELIEVE I'D BE LIVING SO WHY EVEN BOTHER ANYMORE? I MEAN, I'M GOING TO GET CULLED ANYWAY. WHY WAIT?

carcinoGeneticist[CG] ceased trolling twinArmageddons[TA]

Sollux sat there in shock and confusion, mainly shock. One, this wasn't like Karkat. Sure the troll could sometimes be a bit snarky but this, all this yelling and anger wasn't like him. Karkat wasn't one to sound so spiteful and it worried Sollux. What had happened to Karkat that had caused him to go on a full word rampage and point out his best friend's flaws?

Sollux glanced back at his friends list seeing that Gamzee's username had lit up. Perfect. The yellow blood quickly clicked on his friend's name and typed up a message, hoping that at least Gamzee knew what was going on.

twinArmageddons[TA] began trolling terminallyCapricious[TC]

TA: gamzee do you know what2 goiing on wiith karkat?  
TA: he2 actiing really weiird  
TC: BrOtHeR I cAn'T TaLk rIgHt nOw.  
TC: I'm hEaDiNg oUt.  
TC: GoNnA Go vIsIt kArBro.  
TA: what?   
TA: youre goiing out to vii2iit karkat?   
TA: you realii2e you could get culled riight?   
TC: I KnOw.  
TC: BuT ThE MoThErFuCkEr'S GoInG ThRoUgH SoMe sHiT AnD I cAn'T JuSt lEaVe hIm lIKe tHaT.   
TC: I GoTtA Go bRoThEr, gOnNa nEeD To hEaD OuT NoW If i WaNnA MaKe iT BeFoRe sUnRiSe.

terminallyCapricious[TC] ceased trolling twinArmageddons[TA]

Sollux had absolutely not clue what to do. Gamzee was about to go on a suicide mission and Karkat was apparently "going through some shit." Sollux didn't know what to do, so he did what first popped into his thinkpan and messaged Karkat.

twinArmageddons[TA] began trolling carcinoGeneticist[CG]

TA: hey karkat gamzee tell2 me 2omethiing2 wrong?

carcinoGeneticist[CG] did not receive this message.

TA: no fuckiing way. diid you block me?

carcinoGeneticist[CG] did not receive this message.

TA: are you fuckiing kiiddiing me?

carcinoGeneticist[CG] did not receive this message.

TA: thii2 only make2 me more worriied je2u2 fuck. ii need you two tell me what2 wrong

carcinoGeneticist[CG] did not receive this message.

TA: riight, you blocked me. You cant tell me.

carcinoGeneticist[CG] did not receive this message.

TA: 2iigh. ii hope you unblock me 2oon.

carcinoGeneticist[CG] did not receive this message

twinArmageddons[TA] ceased trolling carcinoGeneticist[CG]

Sollux sighed in frustration, incredulous of what was going on. Karkat had some sort of mental break down and blocked Sollux and Gamzee left his hive to go visit Karkat. This was turning out to be one insane night. 

Sollux _wanted_ to help, he really did, but he didn't have many options. Karkat had blocked him so he couldn't contact him via Trollian and Sollux wasn't about to go out on a suicide mission to some hive he's never been to before. This was crazy. Every part of this was crazy. Yet a part of him thought...maybe if he could track Karkat's IP address....no. No no. That was crazy. That was a crazy idea that would land him a certain death sentence. 

Sollux pushed his chair away from his desk and away from his husktop. He had to do something to distract himself. Desperately looking about his block his mind raced, trying to come up with something to do. He eventually settled on just taking a nice nap, he hadn't been sleeping well so maybe a nap was due. 

Sollux stood up and scrambled to his recoupercoon. He quickly peeled off his clothes and jumped into the side with the red sopor slime. The slime almost instantly began working, easing Sollux's nerves and lulling him to sleep. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

A series of dings was the thing that woke Sollux up. Groggily, he lifted his head up to discover that the noise was coming from his husktop. The Gemini troll sighed and pulled himself out of the slime. Covered in slime Sollux assumed that a quick rinse would be okay before replying to whomever was messaging him this early in the day, so the troll quickly floated over to his ablutionblock, turned the water on, and rinsed off.

Once he was nice and clean Sollux slid on a pair of boxers and went to his husktop to see who had messaged him. It was none other than the troll that has caused Sollux to take a nap in the first place. The psionic frowned, wondering what Karkat would say this time, and clicked on his name. 

carcinoGeneticist[CG] began trolling twinArmageddons[TA]

CG: HEY. SO, UH, LISTEN.  
CG: SORRY ABOUT MY LITTLE FREAK OUT EARLIER AND SORRY FOR BLOCKING YOU AND SORRY FOR PRETTY MUCH BEING A SHIT THIS PAST WHILE. I WAS BEING A PISSY LITTLE GRUB AND WAS THROWING A FUCKING TANTRUM.   
CG: AT THE MOMENG ALL OF MY INSIGNIFICANT PROBLEMS SEEMED TO FUCKTOPLE IN SIZE AND I TOOK IT OUT ON YOU.   
CG: THIS IS THE SHITTIEST APOLOGY IN THE HISTORY OF SHITTY APOLOGIES BUT IT'S THE BEST I CAN DO. IT'D PROBABLY SOUND BETTER IF I ACTUALLY TOLD YOU WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO ME BUT THAT SHIT'S PERSONAL. NOT EVEN THE MORONIC CLOWN THAT FELL ASLEEP ON MY GODDAMN LAP KNOWS.   
CG: CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? GAMZEE FUCKING CAME OVER. WHAT A DUMBASS, HE COULD'VE GOTFEN KILLED BY THOSE BULGE LICKING DRONES AND IF THEY DIDN'T KILL THEM I'M PRETTY SURE CRABDAD MIGHT. HE ABSOLUTELY FLIPPED HIS SHIT WHEN HE SAW A RANDOM HIGH BLOOD TROLL LEAP BETWEEN HIS GIANT LEGS TO TACKLE HUG ME.   
CG: IT TOOK A GOOD WHILE OF SCREECHING TO CONVINCE HIM TO CULL GAM.  
CG: ANYWAY BACK TO THIS LAME EXCUSE OF AN APOLOGY.   
CG: I SERIOUSLY AM SORRY DUDE. I GET IT IF YOU DON'T ACCEPT IT AND I UNDERSTAND IF YOU WANNA CUT OFF ALL COMMUNICATION WITH ME.  
CG: I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT I'M GENUINELY SORRY HERE.   
CG: YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO RESPOND TO MOST OF THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO. I JUST WANT TO KNOW  
CG: ARE WE NOT FRIENDS ANYMORE BECAUSE OF THE SHIT I SAID?   
TA: we're 2tiill friiend2 numb2kull.   
TA: ii get iit. GZ 2aiid you were going through 2omethiing or whatever before my2teriiou2ly dii2appeariing two apparently go two your hiive.  
TA: whiich ii have two call bull2hiit on.   
CG: IT'S TRUE. HE'S RIGHT HERE.  
TA: bull2hiit.   
CG: YOU WANT PROOF?   
CG: FINE.

carcinoGeneticist[CG] sent IFUCKINGTOLDYOUSHITSTAIN.jpeg to twinArmageddons[TA]

TA: holy 2hiit.

Sollux had clicked on what Karkat had sent him, expecting a link to some shitty virus or even a picture of his middle finger but no. Sollux's red and blue eyes were looking at a picture of Karkat with Gamzee fast asleep on his lap. This was his first time seeing both of them so his eyes scanned the screen. 

His first impression of Gamzee was holy shit he looked huge. His horns were large and pointy, his sharp fangs were long and poking out of his mouth. He had on white face paint that sort of took off the "I could kill you if I wanted to" vibe but he still looked semi threatening. 

His first impression of Karkat was hard to place. Karkat had a scowl etched onto his face, tiny little fangs poking out of his mouth. His small nubby horns barely peeked over the mop of messy black hair on his head. His turtleneck, which had his cancer symbol stitched on in grey, looked much too large for his small looking frame. Sollux couldn't really place his feelings on Karkat, but he finally went with his general impression of him. 

CG: WHAT?   
TA: holy 2hiit.   
TA: karkat  
TA: youre fuckiing cute.


	4. Chapter 4

_"....Pardon...me for yelling and telling you green, gardens are not what's growing in my psyche, it's a different me"_ [ X ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEfbUEYWOY8)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CG: OKAY BUT IMAGINE THIS;  
CG: YOU'RE JUST SITTING AROUND ON YOUR ASS DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING PRODUCTIVE AS USUAL WHEN SUDDENLY, THERE'S A KNOCK ON YOUR DOOR.  
CG: YOU STAND UP, PANIC TAKING YOU OVER. ARE YOU GOING TO DIE? IS TODAY THE DAY THE DRONES COME ALONG AND DEMAND YOUR, YOUR MATESPRIT'S AND YOUR KISMEISIS' SLURRY? IS THIS THE DAY YOU EITHER DIE OR GET DRAFTED?   
CG: YOU WALK OVER TO YOUR DOOR, READY FOR DEATH OR A LONG LIFE OF SLAVERY. UPON OPENEING THE DOOR THERE IS A DRONE. THE DRONE HANDS YOU A NOTE FROM HER IMPERIOUS CONDESCENSION'S PERSONAL DESK.  
CG: THE NOTE CLEARLY STATES THAT YOU ARE ONE OF THE LUCKY AND VERY FEW TROLLS WITH A CHOICE. YOU CAN EITHER A) GO FOR THE CERTAIN FATE THAT A VAST MAJORITY OF THE OTHER TROLLS WILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH OR B) YOU CAN GO ON FULL HAND TO HAND COMBAT WITH HER AND FIGHT FOR YOUR FREEDOM.   
CG: AND THE COMBAT RULES ARE THAT BETWEEN BOTH PARTIES THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTELY NO WEAPONS OF ANY KIND AND NO USE OF ANY POWERS. IF YOU HAPPEN WIN, WHICH MEANS YOU KILL HER OR FIGHT HER TO A POINT WHERE SHE JUST CAN'T GO ON, THEN YOU HAVE THE CHOICE OF JUST LIVING YOUR FREE LIFE HERE ON ALTERNIA OR YOU CAN TAKE OVER HER PLACE S RULER OF THE EMPIRE.   
CG: BUT IF YOU LOSE, WHICH MEANS SHE KILLS YOU OR YOU JUST CAN'T GO ON, SHE CAN CHOOSE TO FEED YOU TO THE GL'BGOLYB OR SHE CAN DRAFT YOU.   
CG: WOULD YOU GO FOR THE CHANCE AT FREEDOM?   
TA: okay fiir2t of all, that would liiterally never happen. the empre22 ii2 way two huge of a biitch two allow anyone el2e a chance at ruliing. iit ju2t ii2n't iin her nature.   
TA: 2econd of all 2he would defiiniitely wiin. 2he'd go agaiin2t the rule2 and briing iim weapon2 or 2ome 2hiit. even iif 2he DIID follow tho2e rule2 2he'd 2tiill wiin. 2he'2 been aliive a fuck of a long tiime dude, 2he'2 a hell of a lot more 2kiilled iin battle.   
TA: thii2 que2tiion ii2 unrealii2tiic KK.   
CG: JESUS FUCK. IT ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE THAT REALISTIC NOOK SNIFFER. I'M JUST SAYING WHAT IF.   
TA: iit'll never happen.   
CG: ANSWER THE QUESTION.   
TA: fiine.   
TA: iif there wa2 even the 2liighte2t chance that ii would wiin ii 2uppo2e ii would fiight her.   
TA: and iif ii diid wiin ii would go for the emperor giig.   
TA: but iit'd be kiind of iimpo22iible. ii've been usiing my p2iioniic2 a lot lately. ii hardly u2e my niinja 2tar2 anymore.   
CG: PFFFT. NINJA STARS.   
CG: I SOMETIMES FORGET HOW BIG OF A FUCKING NERD YOU ARE.  
CG: USE A *REAL* WEAPON. ONE THAT ISN'T RIPPED STRAIGHT OUT OF TROLL ANIME.   
TA: fuck you. my niinja 2tar2 are fuckiing cool.   
TA: unliike your 2tupiid 2iickle. you can't even u2e iit riight. ii bet all you do ii2 2wii2h iit around liike a dumba22.   
CG: WOW FUCK YOU TOO YOU SCUM SUCKING ASSHOLE.   
CG: I KNOW HOW TO USE MY SICKLE AND I DON'T JUST "SWISH IT AROUND."   
CG: SO GO FUCK YOURSELF, ASSHOLE.   
TA: damn KK. you fliipped from being my friiend two full on piitch fliirtiing wiith me in two 2econd2.  
TA: iit'2 a new record ii'm iimpre22ed.   
CG: OH HA HA HA VERY FUNNY JACKASS.   
TA: thank you. ii try very hard two be thii2 hiilariiou2.  
CG: WHATEVER DUDE. I'LL BE RIGHT BACK, I NEED TO GO DO SOME SHIT FOR CRABDAD.   
TA: alriight, ii'll be waiitiing.

Sollux rubbed his eyes. He was tired. He and Karkat had been talking for hours, it was already the middle of the day. While other trolls were fast asleep in their recoupercoons he and Karkat were curled up at their desks having a nice long conversation about no topic in particular. This has been happening a lot lately, they talk to each other for hours on end until one or both of them pass out from exhaustion. It was usually Karkat that passed out.

The Gemini troll switched tabs on his husktop, moving from Trollian to some lame new coding format he had found. It was supposed to be an exciting challenge but really this format looked like it was made for simple minded coders. As he began his work his mind began wandering back to the grey texted troll and their conversation. Specifically their odd flirting. The two flirted with each other in the pitch, pale, and red quadrants for a very long time and it was confusing. They could never really pinpoint what they had going on with each other, and frankly neither could anyone else, but they knew they had some sort of special connection.

The two spoke about their supposed "special connection" but that just left them in an awkward state after trying to figure out what quadrant they were in and, in Sollux's case, a blushing mess. The psionic assumed that the pale flirting would never lead to actually filling that quadrant. Karkat and Gamzee seemed to be teetering onto that quadrant even though whenever pestered about it Karkat always denies it. But if someone were to consult Gamzee he would say that their pale affections officially yet unofficial, still leaving everyone confused. Hearing all of Karkat and Gamzee's weird pale affections for one another sometimes stirred up a bit of jealous in the Gemini troll, but he never said anything. He didn't want to ruin their friendship over some petty jealousy.

He had to admit, Sollux would love to get into a quadrant with Karkat. Karkat was the vision of pure quadrant perfection. Sollux felt honored that someone like Karkat, who knew so much about quadrants, would be flirting in every quadrant with someone like Sollux.

The computer dinged and Sollux switched his tabs, returning to Trollian and continuing his conversation with his good friend.

CG: ALRIGHT ASSHOLE, I'M BACK.   
CG: NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW OUR SO CALLED FRIENDS WOULD FARE IN HAND TO HAND COMBAT WITH THE EMPRESS.   
TA: well you know CT would fuckiing de2troy her. he'd ju2t keep punchiing and punchiing. but iit'd 2uck iif he'd wiin becau2e he'2 a hemo2pectrum ob22e22ed a22hole.   
CG: TAVROS WOULD DEFINITELY LOSE. HE COULD PROBABLY RUN AROUND FOR SOME TIME BUT HE COULDN'T REALLY DO MUCH ELSE. UNLESS HE PIERCES THE EMPRESS WITH HIS GIGANTIC FUCKING HORNS.  
TA: CC wouldn't do much good eiither a2 much a2 iit paiin2 me two admiit, 2he ju2t doe2n't have the fiightiing 2piiriit iin Her.   
CG: KANAYA MIGHT WIN. SHE'S GOOD AT SO MANY THINGS. SO THERE'S A POSSIBILITY THAT SHE COULD WIN.   
TA: TZ miight wiin two. 2he'2 been FLARPiing wiith vrii2ka for 2o long about who know2 what maybe 2he ha2 2ome hand two hand combat 2kiill2 now.   
CG: NEPETA WOULD WIN. SHE'D DEFINITELY WIN. SHE'D PROBABLY JUST LIKE, CRAWL AROUND AND "STALK HER PREY" UNTIL SHE TACKLES THE EMPRESS AND JUST SNAPS HER NECK.   
TA: ED defiiniitely won't wiin. he reliie2 way two much on hii2 fuckiing gun two even bother two learn hand two hand combat.   
CG: GAMZEE HAS A SMALL CHANCE OF WINNING. HE COULD PROBABLY JUST AIMLESSLY WALK AROUND, ELUDING HER ATTACKS UNTIL SHE GETS TIRED ENOUGH TO WHERR HE COULD PIERCE HER WITH HIS HORNS.   
TA: you're only 2ayiing that becau2e you have a pale cru2h on hiim.   
CG: HEY, THESE ARE HONEST FUCKING OPINIONS. I HONESTLY THINK THAT THE JUGGALO HAS A SMALL CHANCE AT WINNING. HE MIGHT NOT BE THE BEST EMPEROR AFTERWARDS BECAUSE OF ALL THE FUCKING SLIME I TOLD HIS NUMBSKULL NOT TO EAT BUT HE'S BETTER THAN HER.   
CG: MOVING ON.   
CG: VRISKA WOULD LOSE. SHE'D DEFINITELY LOSE. SHE RELIES ON HER MIND CONTROL WAY TOO MUCH AND HER "ABILITY TO STEAL LUCK." AND IF IT ISN'T THAT IT'S HER PIRATE SWORD. SHE'D LOSE.   
TA: AA would wiin. 2he'd defiiniitely wiin. 2he ii2n't the be2t at hand two hand combat but ii can 2ee her wiiniing.   
CG: WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? SHE DOESN'T USE HAND TO HAND COMBAT AT ALL. IT'S HER TELEKINESIS SHE USES ALL THE FUCKING TIME AND IF NOT THAT SHE'LL USE THAT WHIP. THOUGH HER USING HER WHIP IS RARE SO THAT JUST SAYS SHE RELIES ON HER POWERS MORE. SHE'D LOSE.  
TA: fuck you man. ii 2aiid 2he ii2n't the be2t iin hand two hand combat but 2he wouldn't lo2e. 2he could probably....ii dunno. tiire the empre22 out. then 2he'd wiin and we would have an amaziing empre22.   
TA: two 2ummariize, 2he'd wiin and go fuck your2elf.   
CG: WHAT'S UP WITH YOU? YOU YOU KNOW SHE WOULD LOSE. IT'S OBVIOUS FACTS. I MEAN SHE COULD TRY TO MAKE THAT CREEPY LITTLE FACE SHE ALWAYS TYPES OUT AND FREAK THE EMPRESS OUT BUT THAT'S ABOUT IT.   
TA: that face ii2nt that creepy karkat. your2 ii2 fuckiing creepy. iit alway2 look2 liike 2ome dude wiith goofy teeth iin2tead of your horn2.   
CG: JESUS FUCK DUDE CHILL OUT.   
CG: WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU? I SAY SOME SHIT ABOUT ARADIA, WHICH YOU *KNOW* ARE TRUE AND SUDDENLY YOU'RE TRYING TO FUCKING BEHEAD ME. WHAT THE FLYING FUCK?   
TA: 2orry. iit'2 ju2t that makiing fun of AA between the two of u2 ii2 off liimiit2 now.   
CG: WHAT? WHY? WE MAKE FUN OF EVERYBODY! YOU CAN'T JUST TAKE SOMEONE OUT OF THE GROUP OF SELECT FEW WE CAN CONSTANTLY TEASE.   
TA: ii can ii wiill and ii diid.   
CG: FUCKING WHY?   
TA: ii wa2 goiing two make a group memo about thii2 but ii gue22 ii could tell you fiir2t off. you are my good bro after all.   
CG: ...TELL ME WHAT?   
TA: AA and ii are mate2priit2.

Whoa whoa, _what?_

Karkat read and reread that sentence, absolutely incredulous. Sollux Captor and Aradia Megido were now officially in the flushed quadrant. Karkat didn't know what to say or do, or even think! Yes, he and Sollux had been painfully obvious with their constant flirting of the red, pale, and pitch quadrants. And yes, the two have talked over officially coming together in a quadrant but Karkat never expected Sollux to just leave him like that.

Technically Sollux _didn't_ leave him though. Their feelings for one another weren't official and they were all over the place and Sollux was fully entitled to have feelings for another and filling his quadrants up but Karkat felt a bit....upset? Betrayed? _Jealous?_ Jealous was it. He was jealous of Aradia. She had so innocently taken Sollux away from him even though Sollux wasn't his to claim.

Karkat hadn't really been jealous, not before at least. He knew everyone else knew that Gamzee was his official unofficial palebro but they didn't know about their constant quadrant confusion. In fact Karkat had never really thought about anyone else waltzing up and snatching Sollux away from him. The mere thought and knowledge that Aradia had done that just pissed Karkat off.

He stared at the screen for a moment, unsure of what to say. Should he just say the truth? Should he just say that with this new information he is now extremely jealous of the lucky maroon blooded girl? Probably not, Sollux would never shut up about it and it wouldn't help out his own jealousy. Karkat's fingers ghosted over his keyboard, he had to reply something soon before Sollux starts getting worried, but he didn't know what to say. Finally, he just let his body take over.

CG: WHAT THE FUCK MAN?   
TA: what?  
CG: I MEAN THAT'S COOL. GREAT THAT YOU FINALLY FILLED UP A FUCKING QUADRANT. I'M SURPRISED REALLY. I'M NOT SURE WHY ANYONE WOULD CONSIDER BEING MATESPRITS WITH A FUCKING PRICK LIKE YOU.  
TA: wow KK. real fuckiing niice. really boo2tiing my 2elf e2teem here.  
CG: IT'S NOT MY FUCKING FAULT YOU HAD TO TURN AROUND AND BE MATESPRITS WITH *HER*.   
TA: what the hell ii2 that 2uppo2ed two mean.

Shit. Karkat chewed his lip, maybe letting his body take over and just message him without thinking _wasn't_ the best idea. He quickly put his thinkpan to work as his fingers rapidly pressed down on the letter keys.

CG: NOTHING MAN.   
CG: I'M JUST TIRED.   
CG: CONGRATS ON FILLING UP YOUR RED QUADRANT. HOPE YOU AND MEGIDO ARE HAPPY.

carcinoGeneticist[CG] ceased trolling twinArmageddons[TA]

Sollux raised an eyebrow as he saw the light of Karkat's screen name darken. That was....really weird. Karkat had never acted like that before. It was weird and Sollux wanted to question the cancer troll but he had left the conversation before he could press further. A new light appeared at the edge of the screen. Aradia's username had lit up and Sollux immediately clicked on her name to begin chatting with his new matesprit.

twinArmageddons[TA] began trolling apocalypseArisen[AA]

TA: hey AA  
AA: hey sollux!   
AA: whats up?  
TA: nothiing much. ii told KK about u2 and he 2tarted actiing all weiird.   
TA: ii wa2 goiing two que2tiion him about iit but the a22hole left the conver2atiion before ii could.   
AA: weird?   
TA: yeah, liike he wa2 bothered about iit or 2ome 2hiit?   
TA: here, read for your2elf.

twinArmageddons[TA] sent a chat log between carcinoGeneticist[CG] and twinArmageddons[TA] to apocalypseArisen[AA]

AA: huh, that is weird. even for karkat.  
AA: hes probably just sad that his own quadrant isnt filled. other than gamzee of course.   
TA: no no AA. remember GZ and KK "arent iin the pale quadrant".   
AA: pfft. sometimes I forget how silly you are what with your sour exterior.  
TA: gee thank2. ii 2ure do feel the love.   
AA: good.   
AA: so sorry to cut this short but something REALLY cool landed not too far from my hive and I want to check it out! OuO   
TA: yeah yeah ii under2tand. go out on your adventure. have fun and dont diie becau2e iitd 2uck iif you diied.   
AA: bye sollux!   
AA: <3  
TA: <33

apocalypseArisen[AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons[TA]

Sollux sighed, the faint noise of his lusus' hungry growls beginning to reach his ears. He might as well feed him now than later. He gathered the required materials, pushed the window open and floated out. 

Meanwhile, Karkat had long since ditched his husktop, replacing it with a small TV playing his absolute favourite romcom. Candy red tears had stained his cheeks but it had been a while since he stopped crying. Right now he was just sitting there, as stoic as possible and munching on some gobblebeast jerky. 

Why was Karkat crying? In all honesty he didn't know himself. He had no exact reason to cry, but he supposed his wounded feelings felt otherwise. He didn't even know _why_ his feelings were hurt. He told himself repeatedly that Sollux was his own person. Sollux _was not_ cheating on him and Sollux _hadn't_ just left him. They weren't even in a quadrant together so why was Karkat so upset? 

The cancer troll finished his jerky and sighed. He felt bad for his tiny outburst earlier. He was just glad he stopped it before he said anything really stupid and damaged his friendship with Sollux. He should probably apologise. Yeah, he should. Karkat stood up and walked the long flight of stairs to his respiteblock. Turning his husktop on he began formulating his apology. It had to be sincere with undertones of snark so Sollux knew that he was truly sorry. He got on just in time to see Aradia and Sollux's screen names dim down, causing a squeezing feeling to his blood pusher. There was no doubt they were talking about him. 

Karkat just stood there now, unable to think. Seeing their names just broke his heart. He wanted to tell Sollux he was sorry but now he had no energy. Just then, a royal violet lit up in the corner and Karkat perked up a bit. Ig had been a while since he and the fish prince had spoken, maybe this was the thing that would cheer him up. 

carcinoGeneticist[CG] began trolling caligulasAquarium[CA]

CG: HEY ERIDAN.   
CA: hello kar to wwhat do I owwe the pleasure of havvin you talk to me after a fuckin perigee.   
CG: SORRY MAN. I'M BUSY AS FUCK AND YOU KNOW THAT.   
CA: busy? YOURE busy. i havve to bust my fuckin ass all the damn time to feed fefs lusus.   
CG: WELL I HAVE TO BUST *MY ASS* ALL THE DAMN TIME TO MAKE SURE CRABDAD DOESN'T ACCIDENTALLY MAKE IT ON YOUR TO KILL LIST.   
CA: wevve been through this. im not gonna cull your lusus. id nevver evven dream a it.   
CA: noww that thats settled, youre no longer busy as fuck and you have to spend more a your time talkin to your friends that arent that prick of a mustard blood and a fuckin idiot who litters all over my damn beaches.   
CG: HM, THANKS FOR CLEARING UP MY SCHEDULE ERIDAN. YOU'RE A REAL PAL.   
CA: a course i am. im the best fuckin bro anyone could ask for wwhat wwith my social status and my immense generosity.   
CG: OW FUCK. I THINK I SPRAINED MY EYES FROM ROLLING THEM TOO HARD.   
CA: oh ha fuckin ha kar. youre a real comedy wwizard.   
CG: MY MAGIC IS POWERED BY LAUGHTER.   
CA: magic isnt fuckin real.   
CG: WOW DUDE. A PERIGEE AGO YOU WERE SHAME GLOBES DEEP IN THE BELIEF OF MAGIC. WHAT HAPPENED?   
CA: maybe if you messaged me more often ya wwoulda knowwn.   
CG: YEAH WILL THIS'LL BE GOOD NEWS FOR YOU. I'LL BE TAKING UP MORE OF MY TIME ENDURING ASININE CONVERSATIONS WITH YOU INSTEAD OF AN INSENSITIVE PRICK.   
CA: i dont knoww wwhat sol did but i gotta admit, im glad he did it.   
CG: HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING. TECHNICALLY. IT'S COMPLICATED OKAY. IT'S JUST ONE HUGE CLUSTER FUCK OF BULLCRAP.   
CA: maybe you should talk to yer moirail about this.   
CG: I'M NOT IN THE MOOD TO DEAL WITH YOUR POINTLESS TEASING, BULGELICKER.   
CA: wwhatever kar.   
CA: listen, not to be soundin rude or any a that nonsense, but i gotta go. fefs lusus aint gonna feed itself and ya knoww i hate spendin so much time on land wwith all a those fuckin land dwwellers wwith no goddamn manners alwways starin at me.   
CG: SO YOU'LL BE COMING ON LAND FOR LUSII THIS TIME?   
CA: pretty sure that wwas implied. wwere you not properly schoolfed?  
CG: FUCK YOU ASSHOLE. I WAS JUST MAKING SURE. OR SHOULD I SAY; "I WWAS JUST MAKIN SURE."   
CA: dont make fun a my fuckin accent you fuckin chum bucket.   
CG: WHAT THE FUCKING HELL IS A "CHUM BUCKET."   
CA: its a vvile sea dwweller term, peasant.   
CG: DID YOU JUST CALL ME A PEASANT.   
CA: I think ya need glasses kar, because I literally just sent that.  
CG: OH GO FUCK YOURSELF YOU WANNA BE PRINCE. I'M NOT A FUCKING PEASANT.   
CA: to me ya are. remember, royal vviolet is showwin up on yer screen.   
CG: WHATEVER MAN.   
CG: BEFORE THIS CONVERSATION GOES DOWN A ROAD I DON'T THINK EITHER OF US WANT TO GO DOWN, I WILL CHANGE THE SUBJECT.   
CG: SINCE YOU ARE MAKING THE TRIP ON LAND TO KILL YOUNG TROLL'S LUSII, I WAS WONDERING IF *MAYBE* YOU COULD OH I DON'T KNOW....  
CG: COME OVER TO MY HIVE?   
CA: ....  
CA: are ya serious?  
CG: YEAH.   
CA: ya wwant me of all trolls to come to your hivve. kar im an orphanear and a sea dwweller and a high blood on top a that.   
CA: in our fuckin society i could cull ya an no one would bat an eye. and i could kill yer lusus if I wwanted to.   
CG: I KNOW.   
CA: ya knoww and yet youre still wwantin me to come over to your hivve.   
CA: evven if i didnt cull ya right noww id knoww where you livve and could go back any other time i wwant.   
CA: youre bein surprisin'ly stupid.   
CG: I KNOW BUT I COULDN'T GIVE TWO SHITS ABOUT THAT AT THE MOMENT.   
CG: LISTEN ARE YOU GOING TO COME OR NOT?   
CA: i dont evven knoww wwhere youre hivve is!   
CG: GAMZEE'S HIVE IS ON THE BEACH. GAMZEE'S BEEN TO MY HIVE BEFORE, HE CAN TELL YOU ONCE YOU COME ON LAND.   
CA: jesus fuck.   
CA: i make no promises alright.   
CA: sometimes killin lusii takes a wwhile so dont be gettin your fuckin hopes up at possibly gettin the great honor of meetin the damn prince of the ocean.   
CG: PFFT. PRINCE OF THE OCEAN. CREFUL ERIDAN, YOUR EGO IS SHOWING.   
CG: YOU SHOULD PROBABLY GET YOUR ASS SWIMMING IF YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE IT TO MY HIVVE BEFORE SUNRISE.   
CA: yeah yeah wwhatevver.   
CA: later kar.   
CG: LATER MAN. 

carcinoGeneticist[CG] ceased trolling caligulasAquarium[CA]

Karkat grinned ever so slightly. He knew the prospect of Eridan actually showing up weren't a definite yes but he knew there was a good chance the sea dweller would show. First things first though, Karkat had to earn his lusus before. Just in case. Crabdad wasn't too trusting in Karkat's friends except a select few, and seeing a high blood orphanear would send this giant crab monster through the roof. 

So Karkat went down to his lusus' room and told him, receiving s few angry shrieks in response but there was no move to stop this visit from happening. With that, the cancer troll went about his hive, cleaning it up. Putting movie grubs away and his books back on shelves. Karkat even put on his newest turtleneck. With everything nice and neat Karkat relaxed on his couch and grabbed one of his favourite romance novels. 

Not even half way through the book and Karkat heard a knock on the door. At first he forgot that he invited a dangerous lusus killer to his hive and was about ready to flee to his panic room when suddenly, a wavy sort of accent impatiently called from outside the door. 

"Well Kar? I ain't gonna be waitin out here all night. And your fuckin neighbours are peerin out their damn windows, as if they've never seen a damn sea dweller before." Karkat grinned and grabbed a sickle before walking to the door. He had to be careful after all. The cancer troll took a deep breath and quickly opened up the door. 

Eridan stood there, his arms crossed and his back straight. Ahab's crosshairs was slung on his back and the sea dweller peered down at his land dweller friend through thick glasses. Karkat couldn't believe it. Eridan did it. 

_He actually did it._


	5. Chapter 5

_"Please let me paint a mental picture portrait, something you won't forget it's all about my forehead and how it is a door that holds back contents that make Pandora's Box's contents look none violent."_ [ X ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEfbUEYWOY8)

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CA: wwoww kar. ya honestly believve i wwould wwatch that movvie just because a the ratin ya gavve it? fuck no, its a ridiculous romantic comedy that i wwouldnt wwatch if it would savve my life.   
CA: I cant have my high up social status bein tainted because i decided to take your horrible movvie recommendation an wwatch it.  
CG: IT IS A HIGH QUALITY FILM DOUCHEBAG. I THE CHARACTERS EACH HAVE THEIR OWN TRAGIC BACKSTORY. THE MAIN CHARACTER DOESN'T FULLY STOP THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR MATESPRIT AND IT ALSO PORTRAYS HOW SOME MOIRAILS WILL GO TO THE EXTREME, MAYBE EVEN A BIT *TOO* EXTREME.  
CG: LISTEN I CAN'Y EXPLAIN IT WELL WITHOUT GIVING AWAY THE WHOLE FUCKING PLOT SO YOU'RE JUST GOING TO HAVE TO WATCH IT.   
CA: i wwont wwatch it.   
CA: ya knoww wwhy?   
CA: because its RUBBISH.   
CG: YOU'RE RUBBISH.   
CA: gasp  
CA: fuck you kar. your lusus is rubbish.   
CG: YEAH WELL YOUR CAPE IS RUBBISH.   
CA: your house is rubbish!   
CG: YOU'RE BLOOD COLOR IS RUBBISH.   
CA: you knoww wwho really is rubbish  
CA: vvriska.   
CG: OH MY FUCKING GOD.   
CG: LOOK ERIDAN, I GET THAT YOU HAVE A BLACK CRUSH ON HER BUT DUDE, YOU DON'T HAVE TO BRING HER UP CONSTANTLY. JUST ASK HER TO BE YOUR KISMESIS.   
CA: im nervvous okay.   
CG: ISN'T THIS A CONVERSATION YOU SHOULD BE HAVING WITH YOUR MOIRAIL? WHERE EVEN IS FEFERI?   
CA: shes vvisitin her lusus.   
CA: an this is somethin that needs to be discussed noww kar.   
CG: FINE FINE.   
CG: ALRIGHT IF YOU'RE TOO NERVOUS JUST   
CG: OKAY OKAY. PRACTICE ON ME FIRST.   
CA: wwhat?   
CG: PRACTICE ASKING HER BY PRETENDING I'M HER. THEN IT'LL BE EASIER FOR THE REAL THING.   
CG: I'LL EVEN CHANGE MY TEXT COLOR.   
CA: this is fuckin stupid.   
CG: DO YOU HAVE A BETTER IDEA NOOK SNIFFER?   
CA: no.   
CA: ugh fine.   
CG: OKAY, READY.   
CA: hey vvriska  
CA: youre fuckin horrible and I hate your guts  
CA: ya wanna be my kismesis?   
CG: EW NO.   
CG: WHY WOULD I EVER CONSIDER YOU A QUADRANT MATE? GO SWIM IN ANOTHER POND, GUPPY.   
CA: kar!   
CG: WHAT?   
CA: wwhat the FUCK wwas that?! ya were supposed to agree!   
CG: HEY I'M JUST TRYING TO CAPTURE HER PERSONALITY, WHICH I THINK I DID PRETTY WELL.   
CA: wwere tryin that again.   
CG: FINE.   
CA: hey spider bitch  
CA: youre a horrible piece of garbage that aint worth nothin compared to me.   
CA: ya wanna be my kismesis?  
CG: NO YOU WHORE.   
CG: NO ONE CALLS VRISKA SERKET A SPIDER BITCH EVEN THOUGH I AM THE BIGGEST BITCH IN ALL THE PLANET.   
CG: NOW I'M GONNA USE MY OVER USED MIND CONTROL TO MAKE YOU CONFESS YOUR LOVE TO EVERY TROLL IN ALL EXISTENCE, INCLUDING THE EMPRESS   
CA: kar wwhat the fuck.   
CG: I AM NOT KARKAT. I AM VRISKA 8ITCH SERKET.   
CG: YOU CAN TELL IT'S ME 8ECAUSE I'VE STARTED REPLACING MY B'S WITH THE NUMBER EIGHT 8ECAUSE EIGHT IS MY FAVORITE NUMBER. ::::)   
CG: ALSO 8ECAUSE I'M THE LUCKIEST MOTHERFUCKER AROUND.   
CA: holy shit kar  
CA: im literally laughin   
CA: an seahorse dad is just lookin at me like im fuckin crazy   
CG: YOU ARE. BUT NO ONE'S CRAZIER THAN I BECAUSE FOR SOME REASON I THINK IT'S OKAY TO BE A BITCH TO EVERYTHING, INCLUDING NON LIVING THINGS.   
CG: OKAY THAT'S ENOUGH OF THAT. I'M AFRAID IF I PRETEND TO BE HER FOR TOO LONG I'LL ACTUALLY TURN INTO HER.   
CA: that wwas funny though.   
CA: noww wwhen i ask her ill be thinkin a that cockamamie vvriska impersonation ya just did.   
CA: thanks kar  
CG: YEAH. DON'T FUCKING MENTION IT OR I'LL KICK YOUR ASS.   
CA: uh huh sure ya will.

Karkat grinned and looked at the screen. He had forgotten how much fun it was to talk to Eridan and he wished he would've started talking to him daily much sooner, though he did feel bad that the only reason why he started talking to his royal blooded friend was to distract himself from the pain of "losing" Sollux.

It had been a few perigees since Sollux told Karkat about his new found red relationship with Aradia and since then, their conversations have been scarce. Even when the two _did_ talk it always seemed fake. It felt as if they were just going through the motions. Karkat tried his best to act as if nothing was wrong and everything was just as it was before but he couldn't help it. Karkat was jealous and no matter how much Karkat acted, he couldn't hide that. Sollux of course didn't know, the cancer troll refused to every admit to his friend he was jealous of Aradia, Karkat only could hope that Sollux didn't really notice Karkat's weird responses whenever Aradia was brought up.

But Sollux did notice.

Sollux noticed a lot of things. He noticed when Karkat was online, Eridan was always online as well. He noticed that the two always signed off together. He noticed that whenever Aradia was brought up Karkat's replies would come later and in shorter responses. He noticed that their conversations seemed so....fake and boring. Sollux noticed this all and tried to figure out himself exactly what was going on. Sollux first assumed that this was like before when Gamzee went to Karkat's hive because he was dealing with something. That would explain why Karkat was rarely talking and his messages were short and choppy, but it didn't explain why the conversation would turn awkward when his matesprit is mentioned. Maybe Karkat was hurt? They always flirted and it was obvious that they had feelings for one another...perhaps Karkat was jealous? Sollux shook his head. No, Karkat wasn't _that_ person....was he? No, Sollux was sure that Karkat wasn't the jealous type. This was most likely something Karkat was going through.

Maybe Gamzee knew.

It was like a light bulb appeared over the top of Sollux's head. He quickly clicked on Gamzee's username and began typing. Sadly, a good twenty minutes later Gamzee confirmed that there was nothing wrong with Karkat and that his best friend was fine. Sollux frowned and rubbed his temples. He was four sweeps old with the intelligence of a super computer. He was able to crack codes within minutes and create new codes crime scratch. He had visions two fold and could hear the cries of the dead in his thinkpan. He could do all these things yet he just _couldn't_ figure out what was wrong with his friend. Or maybe he _did_ figure it out but he was just blinding himself from the truth? It was possible.

Sollux decided to stop being such a wimp and to just confront Karkat over his unusual behaviour. Who knew, maybe Karkat would just talk for once instead of hiding behind his wall of anger and snark. The psionic cracked his knuckles and began typing out his message to his grey texted friend.

twinArmageddons[TA] began trolling carcinoGeneticist[CG]

TA: alriight karkat ii have no fuckiing clue what2 goiing on wiith you   
TA: or maybe iit ii2nt you per 2e. maybe 2ome 2hiit ii2 goiing on at your hiive and you ju2t dont feel liike doiing anythiing but you kiind of feel liike you have two.   
TA: my poiint ii2 that ii know 2omethiing2 up wiith you. we never fuckiing talk but when we do talk iit2 all awkward and boriing and fake a2 hell.   
TA: ii want two know what2 wrong.  
CG: NOTHING'S WRONG. I'VE JUST BEEN PREOCCUPIED.   
CG: I HAVE A LIFE OUTSIDE OF OUR DAY TO DAY CONVERSATIONS SOLLUX. MY PATHETIC LIFE DOESN'T REVOLVE AROUND YOU.   
TA: preoccupiied wiith what?   
CG: IT'S COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT I'VE BEEN SPENDING WAY TOO MUCH FUCKING TIME TALK TO YOU AND NEGLECTING MY OTHER FRIENDS.   
TA: 2o now youre neglectiing me and talkiing two your other friiend2.   
TA: why not ju2t handle your tiime onliine better?   
CG: OH I AM.   
CG: I TALK TO EVERYONE ELSE NOW MORE THAN I HAVE BEFORE.   
CG: HELL I EVEN TALKED TO THAT GRUB FUCKER EQUIUS. IT WAS A HORRIBLE CONVERSATION AND A HUGE WASTE OF MY PRECIOUS TIME BUT AT LEAST I TALKED TO HIM.   
CG: BUT I HAVE BEEN TALKING TO ERIDAN A LOT. I HAVE TO ADMIT, HE ISN'T THAT BIG OF AN INSUFFERABLE PRICK ONCE YOU GET PAST HIS GINORMOUS EGO.   
TA: he2 a blood ca2te loviing douche bag who2 only iintere2t ii2 murderiing all of u2 on land.   
TA: he2 the biigge2t goddamn priick out there dude. what the hell could you two po22iibly talkiing about.  
CG: HEY! THAT'S FUCKING PERSONAL YOU SACK OF SHIT.   
TA: iim ju2t 2ayiing. who know2, maybe he ii2nt even your friiend maybe he2 ju2t talkiing two you 2o you can tru2t hiim enough two where he could get two your lu2u2.   
CG: FUCK YOU. HE ISN'T DOING THAT.   
TA: he could be. maybe he2 ju2t keepiing you around for laugh2. he2 ju2t talkiing two you ju2t 2o he can 2ee how pathetiic u2 "land dweller2" are.   
CG: FUCK YOU SOLLUX. I DON'T NEED THIS SHIT FROM YOU. I WILL ADMIT ERIDAN IS FUCKING INSANE. HIS PLANS TO KILL OF LAND DWELLERS ARE MORONIC AND POINTLESS AND HIS LOVE FOR OUR FUCKED UP HIERARCHY IS DISGUSTING BUT HE WOULDN'T GO ON A RAMPAGE AND JUST DO THAT TO ME.   
CG: YOU KNOW, IF I DIDN'T KNOW ANY BETTER, JUDGING FROM YOUR RAMPAGE I'D SAY YOU'RE JEALOUS.

Anger flared up deep inside of Sollux and his psionics crackled dangerously. He snarled at the screen and his fingers quickly pressed down on the letter keys.

TA: you know what. ii am fuckiing jealou2. iim jealou2 of eriidan goddamn ampora becau2e he 2tole my be2t fuckiing friiend from me. youre 2pendiing all your tiime wiith hiim. iit u2ed two be me that you 2pent all your tiime wiith. we would 2iit at our de2k2 for hour2 and talk two each other about 2tupiid 2hiit. youd 2end me your 2hiitty code2 and iid 2end you my obviiou2ly better one2. wed 2iit here and wed learn 2hiit about each other and wed talk and iit wa2 fuckiing amaziing. but for 2ome rea2on eridan 2tep2 iin and ha2 two ruiin my friiend2hip wiith you by takiing you away from me.   
TA: ii bet you two talk 2hiit about everyone el2e liike you and ii diid. ii bet you two have 2pent goddamn hour2 talkiing two each other, learniing everythiing there ii2 two learn about each other. ii bet he know2 that your favoriite color ii2 fuckiing orange becau2e iit remiind2 you of the 2unrii2e that mate2priit2 u2ually kii22 iin front of in your romcom2? doe2 he fuckiing know that your favoriite moviie ii2 Where The Female Troll Lo2e2 Her Memeory IIn A Previiou2 Acciident And The Male Troll Who Play2 Red Rom Game2 Wiith Vii2iitiing Female Troll2 Fall2 Flu2hed For The Female Troll Wiith The Memory Problem2 And 2pend2 The Entiire Moviie Tryiing Two Make A Proper Red Relatiion2hiip Wiith Her Work Even IIf Her Lu2u2 2ay2 IIt'll Be IImpo22iible.   
TA: doe2 he fuckiing know that the only rea2on why you fiir2t got iintwo romcom2 ii2 becau2e youre afraiid youll never fiill up any quadrant 2o you iimagiine your2elf iin the plot of the moviie.  
TA: you know what, maybe ii am a biit jealou2. but can you really blame me?   
CG: YEAH WELL MAYBE **I'M** JEALOUS TOO. MAYBE I'M JUST A BIT FUCKING JEALOUS OF ARADIA. YES SOLLUX, I'M JEALOUS OF ARADIA FUCKING MEGIDO. I'M JEALOUS THAT *SHE* STOLE *YOU* FROM *ME*. YES, I KNOW THAT IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY FUCKING SENSE. BUT YOU ENTERED A FUCKING QUADRANT WITH HER. THE FUCKING FLUSHED QUADRANT TOO! THAT JUST FEELS LIKE ONE BIG FUCK YOU TO ME YOU KNOW.   
CG: YOU AND I HAVE BEEN CONSTANTLY FLIRTING WITH EACH OTHER FOR PERIGEES ON END AND I KNOW WE'VE NEVER OFFICIALLY ENTERED A QUADRANT AND THAT YOU CAN DO WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT BUT IT HURT SOLLUX.   
CG: IT FUCKING HURT.   
CG: WHEN YOU TOLD ME ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH ARADIA I FUCKING SOBBED MY EYES OUT. I DON'T KNOW WHY. I KNOW IT'S STUPID. I KNOW I HAD NO REASON TO BE UPSET BUT IT HURT. I WAS JUST SO FUCKING SCARED OF LOSING YOU. YOU WERE IN AN OFFICIAL QUADRANT WITH SOMEONE AND I FELT A LITTLE...I DON'T KNOW. POSSESSIVE? IF YOU'RE RED WITH HER THAN THAT MEANS WE CAN NO LONGER DO OUR HORRIBLE RED FLIRTING AND I JUST FELT LIKE SHE WAS TAKING SOME PART OF OUR FUCKED UP FRIENDSHIP AWAY.  
CG: I GUESS YOU COULD SAY I DIDN'T WANT TO SHARE YOU WITH ANYONE ELSE. I WANT YOU ALL TO MYSELF FOR SOME REASON.   
CG: ERIDAN AND I JUST...STARTED TALKING THAT DAY YOU TOLD ME. HE EVEN CAME OVER TO MY FUCKING HIVE AND IT MADE ME FEEL A BILLION TIMES BETTER YOU KNOW? IT WAS LIKE HE WAS INDIRECTLY TELLING ME THAT I DIDN'T NEED YOU AND I NEED TO MOVE ON. BUT I COULDN'T. I KEPT TALKING TO HIM AND FOR SOME ODD REASON IT FELT LIKE TALKING TO YOU BUT WITHOUT THE GUILT OF KNOWING I HAD A SELFISH NEED TO KEEP YOU TO MYSELF. THEN WHEN I TALKED TO YOU I JUST COULDN'T BECAUSE I FELT SO GUILTY AND SO SAD AND I JUST COULDN'T.   
TA: ...  
CG: I'M SO SORRY I'M SO FUCKED UP AND SELFISH AND POSSESSIVE OKAY? I'M A FUCKING MESS AND IMMATURE AND I FUCKING SUCK IN QUADRANTS.   
CG: I'M SORRY I HAVE THIS OVERWHELMING DESIRE TO JUST KEEP YOU ALL TO MYSELF.   
CG: I'M SORRY FOR BEING A GIGANTIC FUCKING ASSHOLE AND NOT TALKING TO YOU AND SORT OF REPLACING YOU WITH AMPORA.   
CG: I'M GOING TO GO WALLOW IN A PILE OF MY OWN SELF PITY AND PRAY THAT A DRONE BREAKS DOWN MY DOOR AND CULLS ME ON THE SPOT.  
TA: karkat waiit!  
CG: BYE SOLLUX.

carcinoGeneticist[CG] ceased being trolled by twinArmageddons[TA]


	6. Chapter 6

_"Behind my eyelids are islands of violence"_ [ X ]()

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It had been a full perigee since Karkat confessed to his jealousy of Aradia and it had also been a full perigee since Karkat stopped talking to Sollux. Karkat knew this was immature, he knew he should probably talk things through with Sollux but he just _couldn't._ The cancer troll spent hours messaging Gamzee to make himself better and Gamzee was always happy to help him out. The candy corn horned troll ended up blocking Sollux, hearing the dings on his computer blare out every five seconds and knowing it was Sollux had hurt him too much.

He had to admit, Karkat missed Sollux. He missed him so much. He missed their conversations and Sollux's mid evening grumpiness. He missed Sollux constantly sending him his amazing codes and Karkat complaining that Sollux was being a show off again. He missed his best friend and he could have him back if it weren't for his stubborn attitude.

Karkat was laying down on the floor and looking up at the ceiling, wondering exactly what his purpose in life was again before he heard a small ding. It couldn't be Sollux because he had blocked the yellow blooded troll so it was most likely Eridan. The cancer troll sighed and pushed himself up then walked to the desk. He checked the monitor and was surprised to see it was Tavros instead of the expected sea dweller. He really didn't want to deal with Tavros' FLARPing bullshit right now. Clicking on the Taurus troll's user name- and sighing heavily, Karkat prepared himself for the bullshit wonders of Pupa Pan's FLARPing adventures with Vriska.

adiosToreador [AT] began trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG]

AT: aG JUST JUMPED ME OFF A CLIFF,   
AT: wITH MY BRAIN,   
AT: aND, uHH   
AT: mY LEGS, aLSO,   
AT: aND NOW, tHEY FEEL,   
AT: iNVISIBLE,   
AT: wOW, i'M SURE THERE WAS A BETTER WAY TO SAY THAT,   
AT: aNYWAY,   
AT: tHAT'S REALLY ALL THERE IS,   
AT: tO REPORT ON THE SUBJECT,   
AT: oF ME GETTING HURT,   
CG: HEY ASSHOLE, STOP PLAYING GAMES FOR GIRLS.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling adiosToreador [AT]

Karkat really didn't feel up the task of humouring Tavros during his FLARPing time, especially not since she was in his team for their little game. No, Karkat wasn't going to think of Aradia or Sollux or anyone for that matter. The cancer troll pushed himself up and shut off his husktop, he wasn't going to deal with any kind of useless relationship problems right now, he was just going to hole himself up in his respiteblock and watch his favourite romantic comedy, maybe even take a nap afterwards.

After gathering the necessary materials for a proper movie night Karkat wheeled his TV over to the comfiest corner of his respiteblock and plopped himself down, a large bowl of popcorn on his lap. This would surely help ease him out of the sour mood he had pushed himself into, right?

Wrong.

Ten minutes into the movie and Karkat was dreading the decision. This film only reminded him of his conversation with Sollux. He tried to focus on the characters, Troll Adam Sandler and his silly antics he used to try to swoon Troll Drew Barrymore but this only more reminded him of his ignorant romance drama. He looked down at the big bowl of popcorn in his lap and frowned, he hadn't even had any.

Karkat sighed pushed the bowl away, leaning over to turn off the small TV when he heard scuttling outside. Crabdad was back. The cancer troll quickly stood up and walked over to the two large doors that separated his block and the extraterraneal landing slat outside. Once the doors were open the giant crab lusus was able to freely scuttle in, his large legs making loud clicking sounds against the floor. The crab stopped in it's tracks and glanced down and looked down at the grub he adopted so long ago. It was evident on Karkat's face that something was wrong.

Lusii weren't exactly created for the purpose of helping emotional trolls, that's what their moirails were for, but when a troll lacked a moirail it was up to their lusus to help. So that's what the crab did. Scooping up the upset cancer troll and the small TV, Crabdad scuttled out the respiteblock and down the stairs. Karkat was surprised, it isn't everyday you're picked up in the claws of a giant crab monster, but he soon stopped his efforts to struggle free. He was dropped into a giant pile of animal skins that crabdad used to sleep on and the TV was wheeled in front of him. Karkat opened his mouth to question his custodian's actions but he had left Karkat alone, but a moment later he returned with the bowl of popcorn in one of his claws and sat down as best he could besides Karkat.

It suddenly hit him what Crabdad was trying to do. He was trying to make him feel better by watching one of his favourite movies with him. Karkat smiled and leaned against one of the giant legs of his lusus and looked up at the screen, the bowl of popcorn being pushed towards him by a giant claw. Karkat knew that lusii were made to protect their grubs through youth and not do much else, but this little gesture was enough to make the distressed cancer troll finally relax and watch his favourite movie all thanks to his giant crab father.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The shrill sound of a string of dings woke Karkat up hours later. He groggily lifted up his head and looked around. He was in his respiteblock, specifically in his coon. He didn't remember going back to his block and climbing into his coon, Crabdad must've carried him back when he passed out. Climbing out the coon, still fully clothed and now covered in slime, more dings were heard from his husktop. It wasn't Sollux, Karkat still had him blocked, so it must've been Eridan. The cancer troll sighed and walked over to his desk and read the messages, sopor slime dripping around him.

caligulasAquarium[CA] began trolling carcinoGeneticist[CG]

CA: holy shit kar do I havve some gossip for you today.   
CA: vvriska wwas FLARPin wwith the shitblood, the creepy girl that hangs toys and the assblood wwhen shit hit the fuckin wwhirlin devvice.   
CA: vvriska made tavvros jump off a fuckin cliff wwhile his teammate, the assblood, was distracted an noww he's paralyzed. cant wwalk for shit an has to use the four wwheeled devvice forevver.   
CA: the assblood felt guilt for it a course an she should, ya don't just turn your back on your fuckin teammate especially when youre FLARPin wwith a bitch like vvriska. anywway, she felt bad so she decided to make the spider wwhore pay but that freak who likes to hang dolls told her not to, a course the assblood didnt listen.   
CA: she sent some fuckin ghosts to go haunt her about cripplin tavv but noww vvriskas gonna get revvenge.   
CA: wwhich means somethin bad is gonna happen to captors poor matesprit.   
CA: kar are ya evven readin my messages?   
CA: come on this HIGH QUALITY GOSSIP.   
CA: its the rare kind wwhere wwere indirectly in on it since the beginnin.   
CA: jesus fuck kar, wwhat are ya doin thats keepin ya from respondin to this vvery important message on vvery important gossip.   
CG: I HAVE A LIFE OUTSIDE OF YOU, YOU KNOW. AND I JUST SO HAPPENED TO HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP TO EXCUSE ME FOR NOT IMMEDIATELY WAKING THE VERY SECOND YOUR RING COVERED RINGER HIT THE SEND BUTTON ON YOUR VERY FIRST MESSAGE.   
CG: ANYWAY I DON'T FEEL LIKE READING THAT WALL OF BARF INDUCING VIOLET SO RECAP FOR ME.   
CA: ugh wwhatevver.  
CA: tavvros is crippled cause a aradia an aradia got revvenge on vvriska for cripplin tavvros and noww vvriska has or already has had revvenge on aradia.  
CG: BY REVENGE YOU MEAN...?   
CA: wwell you know vvriska, she aint one to leavve things half assed like SOME people.   
CG: OH SHIT DUDE.   
CA: wwhat?   
CG: SHIT OKAY I'LL BE RIGHT BACK.

Karkat was genuinely panicking over Aradia's safety. Yes he felt threatened by her by she was Sollux's matesprit for god's sake! If Vriska hadn't done anything to take revenge on the poor maroon blood yet, this was Karkat's time to warn her and he was going to take the chance.

carcinoGeneticist[CG] began trolling apocalypseArisen[AA]

CG: HEY ARADIA!   
CG: I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'VE HEARD YET BUT VRISKA IS PLANNING TO DO SOME MAJOR REVENGE SCHEME.   
CG: AND I'M NOT PARTICULARLY FOND OF THE IDEA OF YOU GETTING HURT SO BE CAREFUL AND SHIT ALRIGHT?   
CG: HELLO?????????   
CG: SHIT AM I TOO LATE???????  
AA: yes y0u are but its 0kay   
CG: HOLY FUCK WHAT DID SHE DO TO YOU??  
CG: I SWEAR I'M GOING TO KICK HER ASS.   
AA: its 0kay. im 0kay with this.   
AA: im 0kay with a l0t 0f things n0w.   
CG: UHH  
CG: WHAT?   
CG: WHAT KIND OF SHIT ARE YOU SPEWING NOW MEGIDO?   
AA: n0thing, im just saying that her revenge plans towards me have happened and succeeded but its 0kay now.   
CG: IT'S.....OKAY????   
AA: yes.   
CG: WELL ARE YOU HURT?  
AA: yes and n0   
CG: OH   
CG: UH  
CG: GOOD?  
AA: yes.   
CG: WELL...CAN I DO ANYTHING TO MAKE IT UP TO YOU? YOU KNOW FOR BEING THE BIGGEST SACK OF BULGES ON ALTERNIA?   
AA: yes actually.   
AA: take care 0f him.

apocalypseArisen[AA] ceased trolling carcinoGeneticist[CG]

CG: WHAT?  
CG: FUCK.

carcinoGeneticist[CG] ceased trolling apocalypseArisen[AA]

Karkat had never been so confused in his life. Vriska had gotten her revenge on Aradia and Aradia was somehow okay with it? And she started typing with zeros replacing the O's so that was creepy. Karkat figured he'd might as well ask Eridan to get Vriska to tell him the full story of her intricate revenge scheme and he'd tell Karkat, but before he began typing his message to Eridan he unblocked Sollux. Karkat would probably going to be the one that had to bring the bad news to his poor friend. 

Halfway through typing up his paragraph to send to the royal hued sea dwelled a ding rang out the computer. Maybe it was going to be Aradia, elaborating what happened to her and what she meant earlier. Karkat copy and pasted what he had of his message so far and clicked back to the Trollian menu. It turned out that Sollux was the one messaging him. The cancer troll hesitantly clicked on his friend's user name. Maybe Sollux didn't know what Vriska did to Aradia yet? 

twinArmageddons[TA] began trolling carcinoGeneticist[CG]

TA: oh my god.....  
TA: karkat  
TA: ii ju2t   
TA: ii   
TA: ii ju2t kiilled aradiia


	7. Chapter 7

_"And now I just sit in silence"_ [ X ]()

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Perigees went by since the chain of events that caused Vriska to lose an arm, Tavros to lose his ability to use his legs, Terezi her ability to see, and Aradia to lose her life. Everything seemed to go back to normal a while after it between Sollux and Karkat. Karkat was respectful enough not to mention Aradia's accident and in return Sollux never brought up the subject of their previous argument.

Time went on as did more of their daily contretemp and awkward flirting that felt right for some reason. The confusion on what quadrant they would land in only grew with them but pretty soon they didn't care for quadrants. They just cared for one another and that was good enough for the two of them. Their flirting however was put to an awkward pause when Sollux began developing the same sort of confused feelings towards Feferi, but this time Karkat understood. He had matured in the time since their last romantic fallout and instead of ignoring Sollux and attempting to replace him he did the opposite. Yes Karkat did develop jealous feelings towards Feferi and they only grew each time Sollux brought up the heiress but he kept his mouth shut and simply responded the way he would any other day.

The two trolls became closer than any other trolls on Alternia, their constant banter was often mistaken for pitch flirting, their sudden desire to defend one another was taken as pale, and the need to constantly comment how nice one looks (even though the most they have is a couple pictures) to the rest of their friends was of course taken as red. No one could quite understand this funny relationship and no one understood how anyone could feel so many different things for one person let alone two. The confusion between Sollux and Feferi's pale or red feelings only grew when they entered their session of the game.

SGRUB was fine at first, everything was going just peachy until Sollux died for the first time. Karkat was at fault for this, he didn't get his dear friend inside the medium quick enough and it cost Sollux his life. The second the Knight of Blood saw The Mage of Doom's bloody, lifeless body he felt his whole world collapse. Red tinted tears quickly came streaming out his eyes as he begged and screamed and cried for Sollux to wake up and stop pretending he was dead. Sollux was his friend for many sweeps, he _couldn't_ of died like that. Karkat wouldn't believe it. The troll that had spent most of his life constantly battling a two headed monster with the patience and stubbornness of a grub could not be dead. But he was. Karkat continued weeping as he stared at the screen in horror, then a blurry figure appeared. At first he couldn't tell who it was, the red tears were obstructing his vision, but after wiping some tears away Karkat could clearly see Feferi Piexes gingerly lifting up the corpse of his yellow blooded friend and pressing her perfect black lips against Sollux's. This made Karkat sick to his stomach, he didn't want to watch his dead friend being macked on by a future Empress.

Time went on some more and Karkat didn't see his friend until their final battle with the Black King. Of course the two were very much preoccupied with actually defeating the giant monster to actually speak with one another but they did manage to catch each other's eye a couple times. Karkat would wave and Sollux would do a two finger salute then one of the Black King's many tentacles would appear and smack one of the two and send them flying.

They fought bravely and barely managed to win their battle with the King then they were off to collect their prize. In this moment they all took a moment to relax and wipe off whatever blood had splattered on them from Gamzee's attack. Once everyone was ready Karkat turned around and faced their prize, it was a lovely sight really, the glowing light was mesmerizing. Just as his hand was about to make contact with their well deserved prize Karkat was jerked upward into the air and thrown onto the transportalizer before disappearing.

Sollux and the rest of the trolls were thrown onto the machine soon after Karkat but they had time to see what their leader didn't. Flying above them was a dog hybrid with a blood covered sword and look of death on his face. The Mage of Doom was just about ready to optic blast the new enemy to smithereens before he was thrown onto the metal platform by an invisible hand and into a new place.

Thuds and groans echoed throughout the room as the bodies dropped onto the ground, the only one of the group that seemed unphased by the change in scenery was a single AradiaBot that was currently floating a few feet above the ground, a blank look on her metal face. Sollux laid on the ground for a moment, staring up at the robotic copy of his ex-matesprit before slowly pulling himself up to examine the state of the rest of the group.

No one seemed shaken up at the sight of the odd dog-like creature they'd just seen, they were too busy focusing on other things like finally getting the chance to join in some idle conversation with one another. It was nice to finally get the opportunity to relax for a moment and actually talk to one another and not have to worry about obtaining grist or making sure no one dies or anything. This was nice.

Sollux took a moment away from talking to Feferi to walk over to Karkat, who just so happened to be talking to Gamzee. The purple blooded troll didn't even bat an eye when his conversation with his pale crush was abruptly ended. He just shrugged and scurried along to find Tavros so he could praise him for his amazing combat skills.

"So," Sollux said, watching Gamzee excitedly climb onto Tavros' little rocket. "Gamzee's secretly the most badass clown around. Who would've thought?" Karkat snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah, he decapitated a giant powerful enemy and suddenly the miracle loving juggalo is a fucking badass."

"Well he is. I mean, I didn't think he had that kind of shit in him. He always seem so fucking docile and pacifistic. In all honesty I expected him to sitting on his ass the entire fight, stuffing his face with this disgusting sopor slime pies. I also expected you to be jumping in front of him the entire time any kind of dangerous object flew within three feet of him. You angrily slashing that shitty sickle you call a weapon and him murmuring about miracles and shit. Who knew it'd be the other way around." Karkat was stifling a laugh now. Sollux smirked triumphantly as he made his long term best friend laugh. "So, your writing quirk isn't just a quirk. You really _do_ screech out every single word."

"Well yeah. Did you think I'd type in all fucking caps and make it seem like I'm yelling only to whisper everything I say in real life?" Karkat shoved his hands in his pockets as he watched Gamzee lean back on the Page of Breath's rocket and happily explain something. "Did you expect me to be a shy, whispering fuck?"

"I don't know what I expected." The two trolls just stood there in silence now. Just watching their friends happily talk amongst themselves and have a grand old time. "You know what." Sollux turned to Karkat who glanced up at him, confused. "We uh, kind of need to have a sort of one on one chat in private. Right now, or anytime soon really. Right now would be preferable thought." Karkat frowned but nodded and the two went off to find a quieter area for their conversation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Alright we're here." Karkat said as he crossed his arms when they found a nice quiet area, suitable to Sollux's picky standards. "What exactly is so fucking important and secretive that you had to drag me all the way out here to tell me?" The was a hint of annoyance in the cancer troll's voice but they both knew that he was secretly glad they were alone. Neither of them really enjoyed being around so many people, even if it was their own friends.

"Listen douchebag, I felt the need to report a very serious obstacle to you since you are technically the leader of this whole mess." Karkat rolled his eyes but nodded so Sollux would elaborate. "Alright, so ever since we found out that the voices in my head aren't just some fucked up side effect of being jacked up on painkillers twenty-four seven, the voices have been getting...what's the word...persistent. They're giving me more details on the entire "doomsday" thing and--" Karkat held his hand up and cut off Sollux mid sentence.

"First of all, what in the name of ever loving fuck are you talking about? Alternia is _gone_. What more details can you get on "doomsday" if it already passed? Second of all the game is _over_. We're all home free, no one died. Well except Vriska but the son of a bitch came back, sadly." Sollux rolled his eyes and waited for Karkat to finish his mini-rant before continuing.

" _As I was saying,_ the voices are getting more persistent and giving me details on our deaths. Long story short, our Prospit dream selves are as good as gone along with a few good members of our group. They don't give me an exact timeframe in which this whole shebang happens but I know it's going to be a cluster fuck of bad times and there's nothing we can do to stop it." Sollux shrugged with his last few words and looked over Karkat's current expression.

Of course the Knight of Blood would have a look of incredulousness on his face. He had honestly expected them to just be able to beat the nightmarish game and be off Scot free. Clearly that wasn't the case. Karkat ran a hand through his messy mop of black hair and leaned against the wall. "So what you're basically saying is that some of us will die?" Sollux nodded. "And that'll all happen around the same time?" Another nod. "And there is absolutely _nothing_ we can do to stop this whole friend on friend killing spree?" Another nod and Karkat let out a stressed sigh. "Can you at least tell me who we lose? Do...do _I_ die? You know, other than my dream self?" Sollux slowly shook his head causing Karkat to let out a sigh of relief. "Can I at least know which of these bulge lickers kicks the metaphorical can?" Sollux shook his head again. "Well why the fuck not?"

"For one I don't want to worry you and two it's kind of hard to tell at the moment. All the voices are blending in and it's hard to distinguish one from another." Karkat nodded slowly in understanding. "That's pretty much all there is to report on the matter of about half of us dying."

"Right, yeah, thanks for telling me. I'm glad you _finally_ recognised my position as leader. Now if only a few other shit heads could finally see that _I'm_ the leader we could manage to not murder one another." Sollux chuckled. He had to admit, he was enjoying this time he was spending with Karkat. Even if he was just telling him that there would be a killing spree going on some time in the future. For a couple moments the two of them just stood there quietly, then Karkat broke the silence yet again.

"So uh...if you're going to die again, where does that leave us? Or uh, you and Feferi? Don't you two have a quadrant going on?" Sollux shook his head.

"Not really. It's kind of like what we have going on, minus the occasional pitch fling. She's trying to both my matesprit and moirail, no real quadrant was set. As for you and I, I have no fucking clue. I haven't had a fucking clue in sweeps, KK. You and I are one giant mess. But you know...I kind of like that mess."

"Yeah," Karkat nodded in agreement, a tiny smile threatening to appear on his face. "So do I."


	8. Chapter 8

_"Hello, we haven't talked in quite some time...hello I've been traveling in the deserts of my mind....and I haven't found a drop, of you."_ [ X ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyXEvDXqeeI)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So I see you're going to continue your daily habits here on this meteor out in the open." Karkat leaned against the back of Sollux's office chair and peered at the monitor over his friend's shoulder as the psionic continued clacking away at the keyboard. "Not even the destruction of our planet will stop you from doing your mandatory nightly coding."

"First of all I'm not coding. These shitty ass husktops were wiped clean and I'm here trying to figure out a way to restore whatever the fuck was on them." Sollux stopped his typing and swivelled around and faced Karkat, causing Karkat to lose his balance for a moment. "Second of all, no. Not even the death of my race and the explosion of my planet will stop me from coding." Karkat snickered, rolling his eyes. These were one of the rare moments that everyone else was out the room, off to their own blocks or visiting their planets, and it was just the two trolls.

"Amazing." Karkat plopped down in the chair besides Sollux and scooted closer. They sat in silence for a while, the only sound was the loud clacking of the keyboard. Karkat had to admit, he rather enjoyed watching Sollux work on the husktop. The concentration on the Gemini's face was fascinating. Karkat could've set himself on fire and danced in the nude in front of his friend and that wouldn't of broken his concentration. Of course there was one thing that broke the psionic's focus.

"Fuck." Sollux mumbled as he read the fuchsia text on screen. Karkat frowned, already knowing what was going to happen next. Sollux spun in his chair to face his friend, the lisped words not even leaving his mouth before Karkat nodded. "Jesus dick with sprinkles _thank you_." Sollux quickly logged off of his Trollian before jumping out of his chair and practically flying out the room. It was always the exact same routine. Whenever Karkat and Sollux had a moment alone something came up. Whether it be Feferi or Equius needing help to re-program AradiaBot it was _always_ something. Today it just so happened to be Feferi. Karkat sighed and slid in front of the computer Sollux was previously using and logged in, clicking on Eridan's username before beginning to type. Sollux had asked his dear friend Karkat to attempt to keep the genocidal Prince of Hope busy whenever he had his alone time with the Witch of Life. Of course Karkat's first reaction was to be incredulous. Did Sollux really expect that? After what happened with Aradia, Karkat couldn't believe it. But the cancer troll did agree, he couldn't just let Eridan stomp all over Sollux's well deserved happiness after all.

\- -  carcinoGeneticist[CG] began trolling caligulasAquarium[CA] \- - 

CG: HEY DOUCHEBAG, ARE YOU DOING ANYTHING IN PARTICULAR AT THE MOMENT?   
CA: im on LOWWAA killin all a these angels if that helps answwer your question   
CG: GREAT! SO YOU *AREN'T* DOING ANYTHING.   
CA: i just said I wwas killin angels, numbskull.   
CG: STILL NOTHING. LIKE I'VE SAID A BAZILLION TIMES BEFORE, KILLING THOSE FUCKING ANGELS DO ***NOTHING***. LIKE, *AT ALL*. SO THEREFORE YOU ARE IN FACT DOING NOTHING.   
CA: wwell i mean wwhat else wwere they here for? theyre aggressivve as shit an no one else wwill come onto my planet to help me kill these bastards.   
CG: THEY'RE AGGRESSIVE BECAUSE YOU'VE BEEN FUCKING MURDERING THEM YOU DOUCHEBAG. AND OF COURSE NO ONE WILL GO ONTO THE LAND OF PISSED OFF ANGELS AND A GENOCIDAL GODDAMN PRINCE WITH A GUN. THEY DON'T WANT TO FUCKING DIE.   
CA: it isnt that bad here though! all a you pansies keep complainin about it here yet ya havent evven set foot on my fuckin planet!   
CG: OH ERIDAN, POOR STUPID ERIDAN.   
CG: I'M CHANGING THE TOPIC.   
CG: DO YOU WANT TO HANG OUT WITH ME AND TAKE A BREAK FROM MURDERING SEMI INNOCENT ANGELS AND COME TO LOPAH?   
CA: youre invvitin me to your planet to hang out?   
CA: i thought that no one wwas like allowwed there cause a the fuckin blood thats sloshin all ovver the damn place, it makes ya self conscious as shit.   
CG: WELL I HAVE TO GET MYSELF EVENTUALLY. AND THERE ARE PEOPLE ALLOWED ON LOPAH FOR YOUR INFORMATION.   
CA: the clowwn is the only one thats been on your planet.   
CG: THAT'S BECAUSE HE'S AN IDIOT AND I WAS WATCHING HIM AND HE WOULDN'T AUTOMATICALLY SAW "EWW WWHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT". NO, INSTEAD HE SAID "HOLY FUCK THIS COLOR IS MIRACULOUS" OR SOME SHIT LIKE THAT.  
CA: aww kar, you like him.   
CG: FUCK OFF, SHIT STAIN. DO YOU WANT TO COME TO LOPAH OR NOT?   
CA: yeah yeah ill come over to your blood planet.   
CG: GREAT, I'LL MEET YOU HERE IN TWENTY MINUTES.   
CA: wwhatevver.   
CA: see ya then.   
CG: LATER DUDE.

\- -  carcinoGeneticist[CG] ceased trolling caligulasAquarium[CA] \- - 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"Took you long enough." Karkat grumbled as he stood up from his spot on the ground and turned to greet the sea dweller. "I thought you were about ditch me here." 

"Well excuse me for takin' a little longer to clear off those pesterin' angels so I could FINALLY make my way over to your gross blood covered land." Karkat rolled his eyes as the Prince of Hope pursed his lips, gazing out at the ocean of mutant red blood before him. Karkat didn't exactly feel comfortable letting anyone on LOPAH, it was covered in his mutated blood after all, but the word about his freaky blood had gotten around and it wasn't like he could deny it any longer. There was also the fact that Eridan used to be a diehard hemospectrum enthusiast and he still was a bit of a dick about Karkat not even being on the hemospectrum, but Eridan kept his mouth shut for the sake of his friend. 

"So," Karkat mumbled after he and Eridan found an area to sit in suitable to the prince's liking. "Other than murdering a fuck ton of semi-innocent angels that don't even give you fucking grist when you kill them, what've you been up to?" The violet blood shrugged, his eyes on the slow and calm waves of blood.

"Nothin' much. Been meetin' up with fussy fangs herself, we're workin' on a project- which is NONE a your damn business thank you very much." Karkat just shrugged in response and leaned back on his hands. "Okay maybe it is your business, you are our leader after all, I mean, I'm not exactly acceptin' that you of all trolls got hooked up with the leadership gig but I gotta show _some_ respect..." Karkat rolled his eyes and turned his body to face Eridan. 

"Whether you accept this shit or not I'm the leader and now you have to spill your goddamn guts about this super secret project you have going on with Kanaya." Eridan nodded and played with on of the many golden rings that decorated his fingers. 

"Kan is makin' me a wand- but it _isn't_ magic. I CANNOT stress enough that this wand _isn't_ magic alright? It's pure white science, or in the case a my class an aspect, hope. My wand is powered entirely by hope. You got that?" Karkat wanted to laugh, he really did. It took every ounce of his will power not to laugh. Instead he just nodded and mumbled in agreement, earning a satisfied grunt from his sea dweller friend. The two sat there for a while, not speaking. They enjoyed the quietness of this, the only sound the faint splashes of the waves of blood before them. Then Eridan broke the sacred peace. 

"So, Fef and that mustard blood seem to be gettin' along pretty well..." Aaaaand there it was. Karkat cursed under his breath before nodding slightly. He just _knew_ Eridan would bring up Sollux and Feferi at some point in their conversation. "Fuckin' filthy low blood, he had to pop up an ruin my perfectly good goddamn life." 

"Oh yeah, like your life was going to go just swimmingly if Sollux never talked to Feferi." Karkat snarled out causing Eridan to frown a bit. "If Sollux was never in the picture then Feferi's feelings towards you _certainly_ match your feelings towards her. That's like saying if Troll Will Smith never met his matesprit and he and I met we'd be red for sure." The Prince of Hope opened his mouth to say something but then quickly shut his mouth, pulling his knees up to his chest. 

Everything was silent again. Karkat felt a bit bad but Eridan needed to know that all of his problems weren't just Sollux's fault or Feferi's. Eridan continued messing with his rings, occasionally stealing glances Karkat's way. "Ya know," Eridan mumbled, breaking the silence. "I've always wondered what my life woulda been like if you were my 'rail instead a Fef." Karkat scoffed and looked over at his friend. 

"I doubt you would've been any better than now, asshole. If I was your moirail you probably would be exactly the same except with a better understanding of how the quadrants work." Eridan chuckled and nodded in agreement. "Honestly, I've thought about you being my pale mate a fuck ton of times but you had Feferi and I kind of have Gamzee. It probably would've been...weird and shit." 

"Probably, but it woulda been nice. I always sorta felt like right to be talkin' to you bout my feelin's an emotions an shit. That's probably considered cheatin' ain't it?" Karkat nodded a bit, but couldn't help the small smile on his face. It felt nice knowing that throughout all their conversations, Eridan had at least felt somewhat pale for him as well. "Listen Kar, I know ya got your thing with the soda lovin' asshole of a fuckin' clown but if you an he never work out...there's always me. Like, if you one day realize that Gam ain't the troll ya wanna be pale with I'm happy to take the role of Karkat Vantas' rail."

"Oh yeah, definitely." Karkat paused for a moment, then uncaptchalogued his sickle. "We could make this an official pact you know." Eridan glanced over at Karkat and the sickle, getting the gist of what he was implying. The sea dweller held out his hand and Karkat slid the sharp side of his sickle over Eridan's palm, violet blood oozing out. Karkat made another cut on his own palm, blood to match the ocean before them dripping out. Hesitantly, the too shook hands, sealing their little pact. 

"I ain't gonna become a fuckin' mutant with this am I?" Karkat frowned. Eridan just ruined a perfectly good moment between them. 


	9. Chapter 9

_"Shadows will scream that I'm alone...but I know we've made it this far, kid."_ [ X ]()

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_"HONK. honk. HONK. honk."_ Karkat cursed silently as they horrifying honks echoed throughout the empty hallways as he continued dragging Sollux's unconscious and bloody body down the corridor and hopefully away from harm's way. He didn't know what happened, he didn't know what caused it. All he knew was that he was two people were dead and there were two people out on rampages on the moment. All he knew was that he was _terrified._

Another honk echoed through the hallways, louder this time, and caused Karkat to jump and squeak in fear. He didn't know what to do. His arms were tired from dragging his friends knocked out body so far and he was scared he was about to get gutted by a crazy killer clown. Pulling Sollux behind a small stack of random crates they kept in the hallways, Karkat removed his sickle from his sylladex and held his unconscious friend close, the sickle held out protectively in front of the two. This wasn't his plan, this was just until he got some feeling back in his arms.

He didn't know what his plan was going to be actually, he just knew that he had to stay as calm as possible and fix this. But how? Everything had happened so quickly that he didn't know what to do. One second he's calmly chatting with Eridan and the next second Feferi and Kanaya have holes in their torsos and Sollux is knocked unconscious against a wall. Karkat remembered thinking that those few seconds in which Eridan made eye contact with him after killing Feferi and Kanaya would be his last, but he was wrong. The Aquarius troll simply smiled a shark-like smile, his razor sharp teeth all showing, then stepped on the platform of the transportalizer before vanishing.

He didn't know how long he sat behind that stack of crates for but once he did stand up, both his legs and his ass were asleep. Karkat took a few tentative steps down both sides the hall, making sure the coast was clear and safe before dragging the still unconscious body of his best friend down the hall.

And that's when Karkat dropped Sollux down the stairs.

It all happened so fast really. One second Karkat is patting himself on the back for safely dragging his best friend to safety and the next second the two of them were tumbling down a large flight of scared, mustard blood and teeth flying out in all directions. After one long and painful moment the two were at the bottom of the stairs and Karkat was desperately trying to shove his friends teeth back into his gummy mouth. Of course Sollux did wake up soon after, with no lisp but a full on migraine, and Karkat couldn't help but stop the smile on his face and tackle his newly blinded friend in a bone crushingly tight hug. Of course after that things went quicker. Sollux managed to contact Terezi on pointers about his new inability to see and Karkat had to leave him to go hunting for a crazy killer clown. They all regrouped eventually, Kanaya, Terezi, Sollux, Gamzee, Vriska, Karkat, when it came down to easing the burning rage that rested in the capricorn trolls self.

Of course things went downhill from _there_ too.

Karkat couldn't imagine a greater pain than watching his long time best friend and weird flushed-pitch-pale crush die in front of his eyes, but he just got the first hand experience of feeling something worse. Watching his long term friend for whom he shared mixed feelings with die in front of his eyes, twice. Karkat was now screaming and sobbing and begging and crying over the not breathing body of his friend. This time, Karkat knew there was probably nothing he would be able to do to get his pain in the ass yet wonderful friend to come back to life, and he was technically right. This Sollux was long gone, and Karkat was just clutching an empty shell.

"Karkat?" Karkat must've been going insane already because he was hearing Sollux's voice. "Karkat, dude." There it was again, this time though Karkat's head shot up to see Sollux floating a few feet above him, along with a newly god tiered Aradia and aliens. Karkat didn't care about them though, all he cared about was the sudden anger racing through his veins as he fixated a glare to the half dead gemini.

The currently alive Sollux was now floating down a good foot or two away from Karkat, the dead Sollux in Karkat's arms was laying there limply because he was dead after all. Anger was burning through every fiber of Karkat's being and he didn't know where to start. He could do the usual start his screaming, calling Sollux a variety of colorful curse words and ending with an apology and everyone returns to their previous buddy-buddy state but no. Karkat was far too angry for that. Instead of his usual angry ranting Karkat did something much more effective.

The Knight of Blood looked The Mage of Doom straight in the eyes, mostly the one where he wasn't blind in, then stormed off without a word, leaving his half dead friend alone with himself. That was good right? Karkat had left Sollux stupefied. He had left Sollux wondering exactly how mad Karkat was. He kept trying to tell himself that he was proving a point to the egotistical psionic, even as angry tears started streaming down his face as he stomped down empty hallways to the computer lab. He tried to convince himself that Sollux would think twice about fucking with his feelings and cheating death as he plopped himself down in front of a row of computers and let out loud sobs. He tried so hard but it just didn't work.

Meanwhile the Gemini was very much stunned at the sudden, and quiet, exit of his usually vocal friend. He really did feel bad, this was the second time Karkat had witnessed Sollux's death after all, and quickly went after his friend, leaving the others to mix and mingle with the newest members of team asshole. His mind was quickly working, trying to figure out what had stopped his friend from yanking down the gates to let the flood of curse words and angry shouts pour from his mouth. There was nothing Sollux really did. Hell, he thought that Karkat would leap into his arms upon seeing that he was alive and (partially) well. Of course the surprise he felt at first grew when he stumbled upon seeing the same stoic friend of his sobbing his eyes out, candy red tears staining his grey cheeks.

"I didn't know you'd be that excited over seeing me again." Sollux said with a small grin. Karkat however, wasn't amused and shot a glare at his friend. "Sheesh, don't get your fucking panties in a twist KK." He sat down in front of his friend, who was still silently glaring daggers at him. "Dude, come on. By now you're usually telling me to shove some exaggeratedly large object up my nook or down my throat. Sometimes both. What the fuck is wrong with you?" Karkat sniffled and wiped his tears, still trying to keep that angry look. What was he supposed to tell Sollux? He himself didn't really know why he was angry.

The two sat there for a moment. The only Thing keeping them from complete silence was Karkat's occasional sniffle. He still didn't know what was bothering him. He should be ecstatic that Sollux was alive, he should be happy that his best friend cheated death for the second time already. He should be happy yet he wasn't for some reason. Karkat had to say something, that's why Sollux was just sitting there quietly. Eventually the cancer troll sighed and shifted himself to face the other better.

"You don't get it, do you?" Karkat begun, his voice still a bit shaky. "You just...just...just float over here all willy nilly and _alive_ and make a stupid ass remark. _Is that it?_ Is that all I get??" Anger was starting to bubble again, this time mixing in with his sadness. The candy red tears were beginning to well up in his eyes once again. "I was worried fucking sick Sollux! You blasted us off into endless space and started bleeding and..." The tears were spilling over his eyes but he forced himself to keep his voice steady as he glared at his bewildered friend. "And you _stopped moving!_ I thought I lost you for good this time! I thought I'd never be able to see your stupid smirk or hear that godawful lisp as you try to gloat about your latest and greatest code! I thought I'd never be able to hang out with you again! I thought I'd never be able to see you again!"

"Karkat..." Sollux mumbled, starting to feel a hint of remorse for not being more sensitive to his friend earlier. He slowly reached out extended arms for a hug but Karkat pushed his arms away. He wasn't finished talking.

"I watched you die _twice!_ Don't you DARE try to act like this is fine! This _isn't_ fine Sollux!" The red tears were blurring Karkat's vision but he could still see his friends grey arms reach out towards him, this time he didn't push them away. Lanky arms wrapped around Karkat's short frame as he sobbed into Sollux's shoulder. The psionic troll would be lying if he said he wasn't shedding a gold tinted tear or two as well. "I know they say self-sacrifice is a noble thing but I don't fucking care. I wish you were just your normal selfish prick self at the time. Don't do this to me. Not again." Karkat hiccuped and Sollux shop shed him, rubbing soothing circles on his back.

The two sat there for a few minutes. Karkat's sobs quieting down until they were just dry hiccups and Sollux just holding him, whispering sweet nothings into his ear. Eventually the two calmed down enough to pull away from their embrace a bit to actually look at one another's face. Karkat's eyes were puffy from crying and his face was stained with red streaks. Sollux's cheek had the slightest hints of golden stains as well. The Mage of Doom smirked at his friends poor state and pressed their foreheads together.

"You're fucking pathetic you know, crying your eyes out over a bipolar asshole. You're supposed to be our brave leader KK, you can't cry. Besides, you should've _known_ that I wouldn't of left you and your lonely self without at least calling you nook sniffing dumbass one last time." Karkat let out a weak laugh, happy that a rare smile was being brought onto his face after what just happened.

"M'not as pathetic as you and your need for constant validation, or your constant need to "do good." That's probably the only reason why you fried your fucking thinkpan earlier, to save us and make you look like some sort of cliche hero. What, did you expect me to immediately take the role of the damsel in distress/love interest and praise you and build statues over your heroism?" Sollux chuckled.

"Nah. Damsels in distress wouldn't cry like little bitches, you know, the way you just did." That earned a little laugh from the both of them. Both trolls happy that they could move on from the dark and depressing so quickly. Karkat took a little longer to calm down from his little laugh fit, Sollux watching Karkat giggle with a grin spreading across his face.

"What?" Karkat questioned when he finally did calm down, wiping a laugh induced tear from the corner of his eye before his arms returned to wrap around Sollux. The yellow blood merely shrugged and commented nonchalantly.

"I pity you."

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The two were walking slowly, hand-in-hand, back up to the very roof of the meteor. They both knew that Sollux wouldn't be accompanying Karkat and the others on their sweep long journey through paradox space so they decided to make the most of their time. They had shared a small and quick kiss earlier, nothing special. It was just a little peck in the lips that left them both with happy grins plastered on their normally grouchy faces. They reached the roof and reluctantly let go of one another's hand before walking back to the group. They didn't want anyone thinking that they were something, _they_ didn't even know what they were in all honesty.

The two rejoined their friends and spoke for a moment or two before Aradia announced that it was time for her and Sollux to take their leave. And so, Karkat gave his long time best friend and quadrant confused crush one final hug before letting him and the Maid of Time float up above the hunk of rock the rest were standing on. After one final wave, Sollux and Aradia used both their telekinetic abilities to push the rock away from any danger and into the final stages of the long and wretched game.

Karkat didn't know why but he felt at ease. Maybe it was because he finally let himself be fully open with someone and it didn't backfire on him. Maybe it was because now he didn't have to feel so confused and needy all the time now. He didn't have to feel constant jealousy of other. Yes he was sad that he wouldn't see Sollux for a long time but now without Sollux, Karkat could live a calm life. One free of constant quadrant confusion.

"Yo." There was a light tap on Karkat's shoulder and he frowned and turned around to face the source. It was a human, one that had recently god tiered to become the Knight of Time. "I don't think I've formally introduced myself. I'm Dave, Dave Strider."

_Ohhh shit._ So much for a life free of constant quadrant confusion.


End file.
